


Olympian Girls

by GalacticDefender4679



Category: Greek Mythology, My Little Pony: Equestria Girls
Genre: Magic, Other, War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-21
Updated: 2019-06-21
Packaged: 2020-05-15 17:27:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 20,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19300390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GalacticDefender4679/pseuds/GalacticDefender4679
Summary: After Twilight wins a free trip to Greece for the team, the girls run afoul with the Sirens who are trying to find new power in the ancient city. Thankfully, the girls have new magic and the power of the Gods and Goddesses of Old on their side. In the Second War for Olympus, who will be the victor?I feel that should be obvious, but just to be safe, better read it anyway. Most of the designs for the Olympian Pantheon and associated beings and monsters are based on artwork by Phil Cho of his and Roy Westerman’s NeOlympus project. Follow it and their DC Comics project, Earth-27, on Facebook and feel free to support them, as well as myself. Please leave reviews and enjoy the story. Quick heads-up: While some of the gods are in their human cover forms, I’ll be addressing them by similar names with Greek and Roman roots, so they won’t draw as much attention to themselves.





	1. The Vacation

It was a bright burning day in Canterlot City and the heroes of the city known as the Mane 7 were all gathered outside the city airport with their bags packed. Well, all of them but their second-in-command Twilight Sparkle (who I count as second-in-command because Sunset technically had to teach her the ways of friendship in the third movie, making her boss), who was late to the meeting she called at the airport.

“Sheesh, where is she?” asked Rainbow checking her lucky stopwatch’s clock function. “She called us in half an hour ago.”

“Well, as much as we all love her, this had better be worth it,” said Rarity. “I have a fashion deadline to meet in two weeks, and I’m drawing a complete blank as to what to do.”

“Well hopefully, this trip I have planned for us will give you some inspiration,” said Twilight as she pulled up in her jeep and let Spike jump out with her.

“Wait, what trip?” asked Applejack. Twilight answered by handing the others plane tickets.

“I won an all-expenses-paid trip to Greece, one of the most ancient countries on the planet!” said Twilight. “And I get to bring as many of my friends as possible.”

“Awesome!” said Pinkie. “I’ll finally be able to meet him!”

“Him who?” asked Applejack.

“Uh, my patron god Dionysus. Duh,” said Pinkie.

“Don’t get your hopes up, Pinkie,” said Twilight. “That’s just mythology.”

“Though that would explain your apparent sugar addiction,” said Rarity.

“Excuse me,” said a woman nearby. The gang saw that she had short brown hair with a silver clip shaped like an owl’s head in it and a pair of Vermont Classic glasses over her burning amber eyes. She was wearing a tan zip-up shirt with gold clasps on the neck and buckles over her exposed breasts, large brown fingerless gloves, one of which had what looked like a compass in it, a brown skirt with some sort of silver emblem on it, red leggings and large black combat boots. “Which of you is Twilight Sparkle?”

“That would be me,” said Twilight walking forward. “I take it you’re our guide for our trip?”

“Indeed I am,” said the girl, extending her gauntleted right hand to offer a shake. Twilight moved to accept it but was surprised when the guide shifted her hand to grab Twilight’s forearm in a strong grip. “My name’s Minerva. And yes, I’ll be showing you around the great country of my birth.”

“Wait, you’re Greek?” asked Rainbow, confused.

“And damn proud of it,” said Minerva.

“How come you ain’t got an accent?” asked Applejack.

“Hey, I’m lucky to know how to read the ancient text on the monuments,” said Minerva in a joking manner. “And I can assure you, Ms. Sparkle, that the Pantheon of Mt. Olympus is as real as the ground we stand on. But I suppose I won’t prove that to you by standing here. Come along, our chariot awaits.”

“Ooh! Please let her mean that literally,” prayed Pinkie. But unfortunately, her prayers apparently went unheard as the group was confronted with a simple Gulfstream G550 airplane with another woman leaning against the landing gear near the cockpit. She had blinding bright yellow hair and double-colored eyes; one blue, one orange, and she was dressed almost like a US pilot from WWI, with a rainbow-colored scarf draped around her neck and a silver cane with a globe at the top in her hand.

“Iris, our group is here,” said Minerva. “Let’s get this bird in the air.”

“With pleasure, cousin,” said Iris, jumping up the gangway to the cockpit. “All aboard who’s coming aboard!”

“Don’t we have to get checked?” asked Sunset as the group was marshaled aboard the jet.

“If you were flying commercial, yes,” said Minerva as she sat down next to her. “But since you won, you get to forgo all that. Plus I have a metal brace in my leg, so you can imagine how annoying that is.”

“Which reminds me,” said Rainbow. “How did you win us this trip, Twilight?”

“I was actually wondering that myself,” said Twilight. “I don’t remember signing up for anything.”

“Well, we actually took down the names of all major history and mythology buffs in this region and drew your name randomly,” said Minerva as the plane took off. “In any case, from us of Olympian Airlines, we hope you enjoy your trip.” Sunset was unsure about Minerva’s words, but she didn’t want to risk revealing her powers to someone outside the school, so she stayed on the down-low. For now, at least… Then Twilight looked around and saw all the accouterments around the plane, all ancient Greek relics.

“You seem to be really into mythology yourself,” she said.

“Oh, not me, my dad,” said Minerva. “He’s the boss at our airfield near Mount Olympus.”

“Oh, so it’s a family business?” asked Fluttershy.

“Yeah, I should introduce you,” said Minerva. “He’s a nice guy.”

“I’m sure he is,” said Rarity as the plane continued on to Greece.


	2. The War Begins

Soon enough, the plane had touched down at Olympian Airlines’ airstrip near the base of the towering mountain Olympus, giving the girls a real sense of how small they must’ve been compared to the gods. Then a man with bright blonde hair extending down to a thin layer on his chin and bright blue eyes, wearing a brown coat and black clothes underneath it walked out of the main building to introduce his guests.

“Kalí méra,” he said. “And welcome to my family’s own little hideaway. I’m Zeno, founder of the Olympus Airline and Hotel company.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir,” said Twilight, shaking his hand. “I’m Twilight Sparkle.”

“Ah. Our contest winner,” said Zeno. “Well then, as I said, welcome to Greece. You’ll find the hotel over there; my son Don runs it.”

“Ugh. Don, dad? Really?” asked Minerva. “He’s a compulsive drinker. He’ll eat them alive.”

“Who would you rather I put in charge? Your cousin Alex?” asked Zeno.

“Fair point, but still,” said Minerva. While she and her father were arguing, Rainbow saw something out of the corner of her eye. Something bright orange, puffy and painfully familiar. And it looked like it was going into a cave in the side of the mountain.

“Uh, girls?” she whispered. “You’re never gonna believe me, but I think I just saw the Sirens.” The others quickly looked at her in shock.

“Where?” asked Sunset.

“Over there. I think there’s a cave in the side of the mountain,” said Rainbow. Quickly they ran off, with Twilight giving the excuse of their going to the hotel, but Minerva knew better as she saw them running toward the cave, quickly following them.

When the girls turned into the cave, they were surprised with what they were greeted with; a large temple built into the mountain lit by torches on the wall and surrounded by the statues of the gods and goddesses of Olympus. Then at the end of the room, they saw the group they had hoped never to see again; the Dazzlings, leaning over something.

“Hey!” yelled Sunset, her voice echoing through the temple, prompting the Sirens to turn their heads back to her and the others.

“Well, well, well. If it isn’t the Rainbooms,” said Adagio. “We were hoping we’d cross paths with you again.”

“Well, you’re the only ones,” said Applejack. “Now how bout you just put down whatever you got there and surrender?”

“Surrender? When we have the power of the world in our hands?” asked Adagio. “I don’t think so!” Then they turned the rest of their bodies to show they were each holding a strange weapon in each hand. Adagio had a gold spear with an almost lightning bolt-shaped head and was wearing a gold crown with purple stones embedded in it, Aria had a large trident and a tree branch, and Sonata had a black bident and a burning torch.

“What are those?” asked Fluttershy, cowering as usual.

“These are the weapons of the Elder Gods,” said Adagio, leveling the spear. “And with them, we can finally get our voices back and have our revenge against you.”

“Who says we need our pendants back now?” asked Aria. “Why not just take them down here and now?”

“Fair point, sister,” said Adagio. “Farewell, Rainbooms!” And she sent a lightning bolt shooting from the point of the spear at the girls, blasting up a large dust cloud. The three cackled cruelly, but this quickly subsided when they saw Rarity had used her geode to raise a gem shield around the girls and protect them.

“What?” asked Adagio.

“Newsflash, Blaze,” said Rainbow as the others grasped their geodes, activating their powers. “You’re not the only one with new powers.” Then she shot over with her speed, but the tree branch in Aria’s hand started glowing with ethereal vines, sending roots cracking up from the floor and tripping her up before a small but fast wave appeared with a swing of the trident, blasting her away. Applejack had jumped over and was grappling with Sonata for the bident, but then she held up the torch and blew into it, sending a torrent of fire past Applejack’s head, singing her hat.

“Oh, now it’s on!” said the cowgirl, throwing Sonata across the room. Sunset and Twilight were essentially combining their powers to try and take on Sonata, but she was blasting her own psionic wave attack back at them with the crown she was wearing, knocking them back to the door with the others. Adagio laughed.

“You honestly think your simple magic can contend with the power of Olympus?” she asked. Then a round shield flew into the cave out of nowhere, bounced off several columns and knocked the weapons out of their hands before flying back to the arm of the one who threw it in the first place; Minerva.

“Did _you_ honestly think my father and his siblings would leave their greatest weapons and Divine Keys unguarded?” she asked.

“Minerva?” asked Sunset.

“What are you talking about?” asked Twilight.

“I was just about to ask the same thing,” said Adagio, pointing the spear at her. “Right before ‘Who the hell do you think you are’?” Minerva just chuckled as she pulled a metal pen out of her skirt pocket.

“Come on, Adagio,” she said. “Surely you remember me. Thebes, three thousand years ago?”

“Wait what?” asked Rainbow. Then Adagio seemed to recognize Minerva, based on not only what she said, but also the design on her shield; a woman’s face with snakes splaying from the top of her head. The Sirens’ eyes popped from their sockets as they backed away and pointed stolen gladiuses at her with shaking hands.

“No. No-no-no, it can’t be,” said Aria.

“Oh, but it is,” said Minerva and she clicked the pen, which practically instantly shifted into a gilded spear with large coils around its pole, and a bright red head which promptly burst into flames. Then she slammed the end of the pole into the ground, allowing the fire to flow around her, forming a white toga and above it, bright bronze armor and a large bronze helmet with a red fur frill. Her hair fell back down to below her shoulders and her eyes turned shimmering silver. “I am Athena, goddess of wisdom, battle strategy, and justice. And for the crime of attempted theft from the gods, I hereby find you guilty and sentence you to eternal torment in the darkest pits of Tartarus.” The Sirens growled at her until Adagio directed their attention to some dust on the ground and the marks the spear, trident, and bident made in it. Quickly, Sonata took a picture of it.

“You’ll have to catch us first,” said Adagio. “We’ve already got what we want. See ya!” Then she dropped a smoke bomb, which she obviously stole from Trixie and they ran off. Athena’s spear burned away the smoke, but also the dust.

“Perfect,” said Athena angrily. “I had hoped they’d forgotten we existed.”

“I honestly didn’t want to believe you did, but after all this, I am seriously rethinking all my scientific studies,” said Twilight. “No offense, Athena.”

“None taken,” she said. “My father, however… you may want to apologize harder to him.”

“Why?” asked Sunset.

“Because he heard you,” said Athena, pointing behind the girls to show them Zeno and Iris.

“Wait, this guy’s your father?” asked Rainbow. “I thought your dad was- Oh good lord, don’t tell me.”

“Yep,” said Zeno, pulling the spear to his hand with apparent telekinesis before he slammed it into the ground. Thunderbolts coursed around his body, replacing his human clothes with a large suit of bronze armor, a belt with a bull-head buckle and a long white and orange cape. His beard also extended to something more befitting him. “I am Zeus, king of Olympus and bearer of the Thunderbolt. And this, of course, is my wife Hera’s messenger Iris.” Twilight quickly realized she had basically insulted him, so she quickly kneeled and bowed to him.

“Please forgive me, Lord Zeus,” she said. “I didn’t mean anything by it.” Zeus raised an eyebrow but looked at Athena as if asking her for input.

“She speaks the truth, Father,” she said. “She honestly believed we were just ancient folklore, as the rest of the world does.” At that, he rolled his eyes but smiled.

“All is forgiven, child,” he said. “Now rise.” Twilight did so and wiped the terrified sweat from her brow. “Now then, normally I wouldn’t trust you mortals to help us gods in major matters such as these any further than I could throw you, but for assisting Athena in protecting our weapons from those Sirens, I’ll make an exception. Here’s how this is going to work; You help us stop the Sirens from doing… whatever they’re planning to do this time, and I will see to it that the Muses of Olympus will sing of you as heroes. Do we have a deal?” Sunset was about to answer, but she had to think about this.

“Uh, do you mind if we discuss this for a second before getting back to you?” she asked, leading the girls outside.

“Of course,” said Zeus. “Take as much time as you need. In the meantime… Iris, find Hermes and spread word to the other Gods. We need to hold a council meeting.”

“Yes, my lord,” said Iris as she flew off with the wings on her boots. Outside, the girls had gathered to discuss.

“Okay, so as far as I can see it, we have two options;” said Sunset. “1: agree to help take down the Sirens again, and be immortalized as heroes, or 2: turn it down and let the Sirens take over the world. Thoughts?”

“Wait-wait-wait, we’re basically in the birthplace of democracy,” said Twilight. “So why not put it to a vote?”

“Okay, all in favor?” asked Sunset, and nearly everyone raised their hands. “Opposed?” Their hands shot back down. “Motion carried. We’re helping them.”

“Fantastic,” said Zeus, having heard. “Let’s be on our way. The Pantheon awaits.” With that said, he and Athena led the girls back into the temple.


	3. Gathering the Gods

Once back in the temple, the girls were led to a seemingly foreign area of the temple; a polished ivory and gold sliding door with a button panel next to it.

“An elevator? Really?” asked Rainbow. “This is your way to the top?”

“And to the Underworld,” said Zeus, pushing the up button which opened the door to reveal a huge cabin with a long table. “And once we’re inside, I think you’ll change your mind.”

“Especially after I work my magic,” said a voice nearby. The group turned and saw a tan young woman with flowing orange hair and green eyes wearing a green toga and holding a cornucopia under her right arm.

“Ah, Demeter,” said Zeus, grabbing her in a hug. “So nice to see you. Please do your work.”

“Certainly, brother,” said Demeter and she boarded with the others, lifting her tree-branch staff from Applejack’s arms, pouring her cornucopia over the table, allowing it to spill out tons of fruits and vegetables, filling the table.

“Hoo-wee!” said Applejack as the girls all tore into it. “You are hands-down my new favorite goddess.”

“Well, thank you,” said Demeter, slinging the staff over her shoulder. “I’ve checked in with our siblings Poseidon and Hestia. They’ll meet us on Olympus with the others.”

“Excellent,” said Zeus. “What of Hades or your daughter Persephone?”

“Well, Persephone’s time in the Underworld is nearly up, but honestly who knows with Hades?” asked Demeter. “I mean, kidnapping my daughter to take as his wife?”

“Well, you might wanna bring that up with him once he gets on, because we’re going down,” said Sunset, watching the needle above the door cycling down. At last, the doors opened to a flaming pit, polluted with tortured souls, and even what looked like giants with 100 arms and fifty heads far in the back. But the team’s focus was concentrated on the man and woman standing in front of the door; the man had pale skin and dark hair pulled into a ponytail and a small Tony Stark-style goatee and burning red eyes. He was wearing a full black four-piece suit with a long leather coat, a red tie and red-topped shoes with a ring on every finger and a ring of keys on his belt.

“Hades,” said Zeus.

“Zeus,” he said simply. “Demeter. Good to see you. It’s been many a year since I’ve been to Olympus.”

“Well, I trust Hermes has already been here and explained the situation?” asked Zeus.

“Indeed,” said Hades. “Including your deal with the mortals, which quite honestly, I’m not all that in favor of.”

“No offense, Lord Hades, but you do know it’s rude to talk about someone when they’re right in front of you, don’t you?” asked Rarity.

“Yes,” said Hades. “But I feel no need for that around your kind.”

“Ugh. Well then, I must say, even for the God of Death, you are quite shallow,” she said.

“Yeah, better get used to that around him,” said the young man who arrived after him. He had bright blonde scraggly hair and blue eyes and was wearing a green shirt and red tie under a black vest along with a pair of tan pants and winged boots similar to Iris’, a satchel over his shoulder and a scepter with a globe and wings at the top and energy snakes coiling around it. “Sorry. Hermes, Herald of Olympus. And if I’m correct, Persephone, goddess of nature, should be right behind me- Oh, for Gaea’s sake.”

“What?” asked Hades, looking back with him to see a large three-headed dog cornering a young woman garbed in green and brown who looked enough like Demeter to undoubtedly be her daughter near a rock. “Oh, dear lord. Cerberus, let Persephone come back over here!” Cerberus’ right head looked over at him and barked in anger. “Oh for- My brother asked for her. We can make an exception this year, now send her over, will you?” Cerberus growled begrudgingly but allowed Persephone to head up to the elevator.

“Thank you, Hades,” she said sourly. But her voice quickly brightened upon seeing the feast her mother had set. “Oh! Thank you, Mother. I’ve been starving down here.” Quickly, she went to join the girls at the table.

“I have food down here, y’know,” said Hades as he sat down.

“Yeah, no thanks,” said Persephone, midway through an apple already. “I already fell for that once. Never again.”

“Will you explain that to me later?” Rainbow whispered to Applejack.

“I was gonna ask you to,” she whispered back.

“Kind of a long story,” said Athena. “Short version; Persephone got strong-armed into marrying Hades after eating from a pomegranate from his garden in Tartarus and eating the food of the Lord of the Dead means you’re trapped in the Underworld for a few months, depending on how many bites you take.”

“Okay, so is that everyone?” asked Sunset.

“Everyone we can pick up ourselves,” said Demeter. “The others will be in the Pantheon.” Then the elevator started rising up, and fast, prompting all the gods to sit down at the table and strap themselves down with seatbelts.

“You might wanna lock yourselves down,” said Athena. “This next part is pretty rough, even for we Olympians.” Quickly, the girls all did so, except for Rainbow.

“Rainbow Dash, what are you doin’?” asked Applejack. “Put yer seatbelt on!”

“Ah, those things cost more lives than they save,” said Rainbow.

“Well, there is still plenty of room in Tartarus for those who take risks,” said Hades.

“And refresh my memory, Tartarus is…?” asked Rainbow.

“Basically, the Greek equivalent of your Christian Hell,” said Hades, adjusting his rings. After hearing that, Rainbow strapped herself in tight, and Hades just chuckled. “Ah, works every time.” Then the car slammed to a stop at the top, making it feel like the girls’ organs had shot up into their throats, and making Pinkie sproing up out of her seat like the belt was a rubber band. Then she jumped out from under the belts and landed perfectly.

“Ta-da!” she said, as the others all got up and shook off the shock from the sudden stop.

“Is she always like this?” asked Demeter.

“No. Sometimes she’s really crazy,” said Sunset, smirking.

“I think I like her,” said Hermes.

“Get used to her now,” said Applejack. “Soon nuff, she’ll be drivin’ ya up the wall.”

“Well, column more appropriately,” said Zeus, opening the doors to reveal a huge glimmering city of large temples made from marble and gold. “Girls, welcome to Mount Olympus.”


	4. The Pantheon

“I- Just- This is- There are no words,” said Rarity, looking around.

“Agreed,” said Twilight. “This place is amazing. Who made it?”

“The Cyclops, who now work in my son Hephaestus’ forge in Mount Etna,” said Zeus.

“And I must say, Father,” said a strong voice. “Business down there is going quite well.” The girls looked over and saw a large man with short scraggly hair all over his body under work clothes and eyes colored burning amber. He also had a bronze leg brace on his right knee and a huge bronze-headed sledgehammer in his hands.

“Ah, Hephaestus,” said Zeus, patting the smith god on the shoulder. “Excellent to hear. I trust you’ve brought Aphrodite with you?”

“Of course,” said Hephaestus. “She’s inside with the others.” Then the girls heard a heavenly tune echo through the columns of the large Pantheon as they walked toward it.

“What is that?” asked Rarity, utterly enchanted.

“Ah, it must be Apollo and the Muses,” said Hephaestus. “I saw them practicing inside earlier.”

“Well, what are we waiting for?” asked Rainbow. “Let’s go!” Quickly she rushed up to the doors and pushed them open to see a large area much like the temple on the surface. Four thrones on the left were empty, but upon the next one was seated a gorgeous dark-skinned woman with blonde-pink hair and bright pink eyes, dressed like a showgirl from the Victorian period, but her garb was bright pink. Next to her sat a man in a heavy-seeming suit of black and red armor with a similar helmet on his head, barely covering his burning red eyes, and a large spear in his hand. Next to him sat a striking older-seeming woman with flowing brown hair and bright purple eyes, wearing a long purple dress with gold highlights and holding a gold-stemmed champagne glass in her right hand.

Across the larger throne from her sat a strong looking bald man with a scraggly blonde beard and eyes as blue as the Aegean Sea, wearing black and blue armor with wave decals on the chestplate. Across the other throne to his left from him sat a young man, obviously Apollo, with orange eyes and blonde hair with a small goatee under his lower lip, playing a lyre surrounded by women with similar instruments. He wore a casually formal sort of outfit with an orange vest and a large leather and steel bracer on his left hand. On his back was a large oak bow and a quiver of gold arrows. Next to him sat a pale girl with blindingly pale blonde hair and green eyes surrounded by green eyeshadow, dressed in green and brown with a hood, and a silver compound bow and quiver of equally silver arrows. Next to her sat a very casually dressed man in a Hawaiian shirt, tan t-shirt, and jeans with a gold chalice and a staff topped with what looked like gold hops. His hair was burning orange and his eyes were blue but bloodshot. In the middle near a large burned-out pyre sat a woman with burning orange hair and eyes wearing a deep gray toga, trying to get the fire lit.

“I think you might find use of this, Lady Hestia,” said Sunset, handing her the torch.

“Ah! The Flame of Olympus,” she said, accepting it. “Thank you, my dear.” She quickly used the torch to light the pyre and the whole room warmed up nearly instantly.

“Brothers and Sisters of Olympus, we have a new quest!” bellowed Zeus, prompting Apollo and the Muses to stop playing.

“Is it true what Iris told me, Zeus?” asked the woman in purple. “That mortal women defended our greatest relics?”

“Indeed, Hera,” said Zeus, taking the crown from Rarity. “Not the least of which being your Diadem.”

“Excellent,” said Hera, accepting the crown and placing it back on her head. “Thank you, dear. I felt incomplete without this thing.”

“Ah! And I see my trident has returned as well,” said the bearded man seated between Athena and Zeus’ thrones.

“Sure has, Poseidon,” said Rainbow, flipping it to hold like a spear. “Heads-up.” Then she threw it and the god grabbed it easily and slammed it back down, chuckling.

“I like you,” he said.

“What is the quest, father?” asked the man sitting beside Hera, drawing a jagged gladius. “Tell me what we seek, and I will slay anything in our way.”

“Now-now, Ares, settle down,” said Athena, letting an owl land on her shoulder and allowing a nymph nearby to brush her hair by removing her helmet. “How many times have I told you that not every matter in this world can be settled by a simple show of arms?”

“Tell that to Agamemnon,” said Ares.

“You’re the one who made him actually start the war, brother,” said Hephaestus.

“Actually, that little screw-up was entirely Aphrodite’s fault, remember?” asked Apollo.

“Oh yes, because she gave Helen to Paris as a wife,” remembered Hephaestus.

“Ugh. All right, all right, I get it,” said Aphrodite. “How many times do I have to apologize for that?”

“Once would be nice!” yelled the pale girl next to Apollo.

“Ugh. Volume, Artemis! Seriously,” said Apollo. “What would mother say?”

“Oh please, she hasn’t had any actual need of us since Niobe,” said Artemis.

“Alright, alright, quiet down all of you,” said the man next to Artemis. “Let’s just get to the meat of this meeting. Father, what say we have our guests explain?”

“Good idea, Dionysus,” said Zeus. “Girls?”

“Thank you, Lord Zeus,” said Sunset. “Okay, so I’m not sure how to say this, so I’ll just get right to it; the Sirens are back.” A loud gasp was heard around the Pantheon, prompting Apollo to drop his lyre in shock, but he quickly picked it back up and attached it to his belt.

“Again?” asked Artemis, knocking an arrow. “Perfect. I’ve been waiting for a chance to get back at them.”

“For what?” asked Twilight.

“Well, in her case, for marching the Nazis across Europe and ruining some of her favorite hunting grounds, but for the rest of us? You remember how I asked them about Thebes three thousand years ago?” asked Athena.

“Yeah, what was that all about?” asked Rainbow.

“Well, when… whatever brought them here dumped them in Greece, they originally took the form of mermaids, but they managed to evolve the power to switch between mermaid and human, and they turned nearly everyone in Greece against the gods, so we had to go through a long bloody conflict to free the people from their spell,” said Athena. “Ares and I were on the front lines for that conflict, and they nearly used their magic to turn us against each other, so we fragmented their crystal pendants, thus severely lessening their powers. But then they found they still had power over mortals, and well… the rest, as you coined quite well, Clio, is history.”

“Thank you, my lady,” said one of the muses.

“Ugh. This conversation is getting rather boring,” said Dionysus. “How about a round of drinks for all of us?” The gods groaned at the god of wine, but the girls were curious. “I’ll take that as a yes. Hebe! More nectar!” At the order, a girl appearing roughly the girls’ age with bright brown hair and green eyes, wearing a bright yellow toga, appeared with a large pitcher, and glasses appeared in the hands of all the gods that didn’t have them, as well as the girls, which Hebe quickly filled with shimmering gold nectar.

“Enjoy!” she said kindly and promptly vanished.

“She seemed nice,” said Fluttershy.

“Well, she is the goddess of innocence,” said Zeus. “And honestly, I think Dionysus has the right idea; quick drink before a long quest might be just the thing we need.”

“Well then,” said Ares, taking off his helmet to reveal his short, scruffy white hair. “Might I be able to propose a toast? To adventure and restored glory!”

“Hear-hear!” yelled the others and all downed the nectar. The girls doubled over at finishing it, and all gave a dry cough.

“Whoo! Man,” said Sunset. “This stuff hits you fast.”

“And hard,” said Rainbow as her face and the faces of all the others started to turn red.

“Eh. You get used to it,” said Dionysus.

“So then father,” said Ares. “Where does our quest begin?”

“With his weapon,” said Twilight.

“I’m sorry?” asked Zeus, confused.

“Not just yours, Zeus,” said Applejack. “Poseidon’s and Hades’ too.”

“Why?” asked Poseidon.

“There must be an etching in them that shows some sort of map or something,” said Twilight. “That’s what the Sirens saw in the dust of the temple on the surface.”

“Well then, I suppose we’ll need to look upon it ourselves,” said Zeus. “Hephaestus, I need a table, with a top as flat and smooth as possible. Hestia, ashes from the hearth.”

“Yes, Zeus,” said the two as they set to work. Hephaestus quickly slammed his hammer down and a large metal table sprung from the ground with a top as smooth and flawless as Rarity’s skin. Then Hestia emptied a few shovelfuls of the ash of the hearth she tended onto the table. Ares quickly ran his sword along the ashes to flatten them out on the table. Then the three brother gods laid their weapon shafts on the table and rolled them along it, all at once, revealing a strange drawing.

“What is this?” asked Zeus looking at it.

“Looks like some sorta map of the world,” said Applejack as they looked it over.

“It’s a bit hard to read with it written in just ash,” said Twilight. “Does anyone know how to turn this thing into paper?”

“I’ll do it,” said Poseidon, picking his trident back up. “I’m the one who first gave the gift of mapmaking to you mortals in the first place.” He waved his trident over the table and ashes and practically instantly the ashes transformed into a large colored paper map. One look upon it and Zeus broke into hearty laughter.

“Well, this certainly would’ve helped Jason and his crew,” he said.

“Wait, as in the Argonauts?” asked Twilight. “So this is-”

“Indeed,” said Poseidon. “A map to the legendary Golden Fleece; the gilded hide and skull of the great winged ram Chrysomallus which belonged to the king of the isle of Colchis. The Fleece itself holds the power to grant the one who holds it their heart’s greatest desire and can instantly heal and restore anything.”

“Why would a band of monsters like the Sirens want the Golden Fleece?” asked Persephone. Sunset realized it and snapped her fingers.

“Their pendants!” she said. “If the Fleece can restore anything, they might want it to restore their pendants to normal.”

“And finally regain their full power to conquer this world,” said Hades, getting the picture. “Brother, we must keep the Fleece out of the Sirens’ hands. If we fail, Olympus will fall, and they will rule the world.”

“I understand, brother,” said Zeus, rolling up the map and handing it to Poseidon. “Which is why we will mount a second voyage for the Fleece ourselves. With our new allies at our side.”

“Whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa there, father,” said Ares, running over. “Need I remind you the path to the Fleece is polluted by horrible evils? These mortals could not possibly be of any use to us in this voyage.”

“Oh yeah sure,” said Sunset, quickly using her pendant’s power to read his mind. “That’s rich coming from a god who ran home crying like a baby after he got stabbed _once_ by a mortal.” Ares stared at her in shock.

“How did you know about that?” he asked.

“Our geode pendants grant us all powers,” said Twilight, using her powers to levitate the map away from Poseidon. “As long as we have them, we’re unstoppable.”

“Is that so?” asked Hephaestus. “All right. Prove it.” He then simply dropped his hammer on the ground. “I propose a challenge: If anyone among them can lift my Gigante Hammer, we allow them to join us in this quest. This deal is made on the River Styx, so our decision upon this challenge’s completion is final. All in favor?”

“AYE!” yelled the Pantheon.

“This will be impossible,” chuckled Ares. “The Gigante is so heavy that not even Zeus can lift it. You may as well return to the mortal plane now.”

“Yer gonna be eatin’ yer words in a minute or two, buddy,” said Applejack as she rolled up her sleeves, stretched herself out and cracked every available joint in her body. “Not to mention, maybe a face-full of hammer.”

“Well, don’t just stand there bragging,” said Hephaestus. “Do it!” Applejack stared at the hammer and surprisingly gulped in fear. Even for someone with her natural strength and power enhancement, it seemed very heavy. A quick deep breath to steel her nerves and she activated her powers, ready to win the challenge. She grasped the large hammer’s pole with both her hands and pulled with all her might. Some of the gods started to laugh at her as the hammer wouldn’t even budge but Sunset and the others just stared at her, thinking she was just playing it up. But she wasn’t; to her, the hammer was so heavy, it may as well have been completely made of lead. Finally, dripping with sweat and adrenaline, Applejack managed to hoist the Gigante above her head in one final explosion of effort, silencing all the gods.

“By Gaea,” Hades gasped as the girls surrounded Applejack, laughing and whooping at her display.

“Applejack, that was amazing!” said Twilight. “I never knew you were that strong.”

“That. Was! AWESOME!!!” said Rainbow Dash jumping almost a mile into the air with her geode’s super-speed before she landed perfectly. Applejack panted as she hoisted the hammer onto her shoulders.

“Thanks, girls,” she said. Then she looked at Hephaestus. “Well… I did it.” She threw the hammer back to him, which he easily caught. “Now how bout that Fleece?”

“Very well,” said Hephaestus, honestly quite impressed at her strength. “Our agreement holds true. The mortals will accompany us in our quest for the Golden Fleece.”

“Are there any objections?” asked Zeus. The Pantheon was silent, save for one hand; Ares.

“I honor the agreement, Father,” he said. “But I still say these mortals will not be an asset.” The girls shot glares at him, but then he smirked. “At least, while they are still without proper combat training. If they are to help us fight for the Fleece, they must know how to do so.”

“I second the motion,” said Athena. “If the girls are to assist us, they must know how to fight. So, if my brother will allow me to speak for him…” Ares nodded. “I move that the two of us train them in the art of combat; Ares will teach them to fight, I will teach them strategy for the battlefield.”

“I accept the motion,” said Zeus. “Would anyone else like to add anything?” Hephaestus raised his hand, as did Apollo and Artemis.

“I know better than any god here that weapons take as much damage as they deal, which must be attended to or the user risks death, so I volunteer to instruct them on equipment maintenance,” said Hephaestus.

“Very well. Prepare a forge for them,” said Zeus and the Smith left to do so. “Twins?”

“As much as I honor Ares and Athena’s skill with melee combat, there’s nothing wrong with dealing damage from afar, as my sister and I both can attest to,” said Apollo.

“Thus, we volunteer to train them in the fine art of archery,” said Artemis.

“Very well,” said Zeus. “The girls will be trained here on Olympus and then we move to seek the Fleece.”

“But the Sirens have the map, and a head-start on the Fleece, especially with their mermaid powers,” said Rarity. “Shouldn’t we go after them?”

“No need,” said Poseidon, waving his trident. “You see, by attempting to steal my trident, they’ve angered me. And when you anger the sea, the sea fights back. I’ve washed them all the way to the middle of the Australian outback, so by the time they get back to the water, we’ll already be in Kakheti claiming the Fleece.”

“And also, hopefully some of their great wine,” said Dionysus. “I’ve been meaning to have some, see how they’ve taken to my gift.”

“Well, what are we waiting for?” asked Pinkie, bouncy as usual. “Let’s roll the montage and get training.”

“Now that’s what I like to hear!” growled Ares as he put on his helmet. “To the training fields!” He, Athena and the twin archers ran off through a door to the side of the temple with the girls hot on their heels. Once they were gone, Hera walked over to Zeus.

“Even with their pendants, the Sirens were never powerful enough to conquer Olympus,” she said. “Are you sure that’s all there is to their plan?”

“I doubt it,” said Zeus, strapping his thunderbolt to his back. “Hopefully, once we claim the Fleece, we will find out the rest of their plan.”

“And this training?” asked Hades. “Are you sure the girls will be able to keep up? You know how harsh Ares can be with his students. The Spartans are more than evidence of that.”

“Perhaps, but if not for their honoring him and Leonidas’ conviction, Greece would’ve fallen to Xerxes at Thermopylae,” said Zeus. “Besides, Athena is there to temper his flame.”

“Be that as it may, brother, I feel we should keep an eye on them. Just to be safe,” said Hestia, taking a portion of the flame back in her torch and locking a glass cage over the top of it.

“I suppose so,” said Zeus. “Let’s go.” And they followed the soldiers to the training grounds of Olympus.


	5. Training

Upon crossing through the door, the girls were greeted by a large coliseum-like area with weapon racks all over and a small-scale industrial forge off to the left. Hephaestus walked over from one of the forges and smirked at the girls as they looked around.

“Impressive, isn’t it?” he asked. “Hope you’re ready for the most intense training regimen of your lives.”

“Now-now, Hephaestus,” said Ares. “They can’t train under me without armor. Which is where, exactly?”

“That’s the beautiful part,” said Hephaestus. “They’ll be crafting it themselves.”

“Wait, what?” asked Twilight.

“I trust you know how to work with metal?” asked the smith god.

“I mean… I’ve watched a lot of Man at Arms,” said Rainbow. “But I’ve never actually tried myself.”

“Well, better get to it,” said the smith. “Your training begins now.” Quickly, the girls made their way to the forge and started crafting their armor. It was hard work, taking a long time, but eventually, they were all wearing suits of bronze armor they all built specifically for themselves, based on an archetype: Sunset; the sun, Twilight; her friends, Rarity; diamonds, Rainbow Dash; the rainbow itself, Pinkie; her care-free bouncy attitude, Fluttershy; animals, and Applejack; the crop she was named for.

Hephaestus let out an impressed whistle as he looked the girls over. “Impressive,” he said. “Fine craftsmanship, can barely see any hammer dents.”

“Well, I always do my best when it comes to couture,” said Rarity, adjusting her breastplate. “Of course, I’ve never had to make anything this major out of metal before, but I digress.”

“Well, as long as it stands up to my training, I won’t complain,” said Ares. “Said training consists of such: tests of maneuverability, strength and general skill with a blade.” The girls took weapons from a nearby rack and moved into a large ring in the middle of the arena. “You will each take a sparring partner and use whatever skills you have available to disarm your opponents. You will each continue until both of you have won. Any questions?” Spike raised his paw first.

“Yeah, we have an odd number of people here,” he said. “So who’s Sunset supposed to fight?”

“You’re looking at him,” said Ares.

“Wait, you expect me to swordfight the God of War and win?” asked Sunset, shocked.

“If it makes you feel any better, I’ll go easy on you,” he said, walking in.

“I don’t think that’ll help, brother,” said Hephaestus. “We all know what your definition of going easy on someone is. Perhaps these will help.” Then the smith pulled out large metal cuffs and latched them to Ares’ limbs.

“Handicap weights, brother? Are you kidding me?” he asked.

“Are you?” asked Apollo. “After what happened to that Lawrence guy?”

“Hey, he needed to be taught that his enemies would not accept any sort of surrender,” said Ares. “I was merely demonstrating that to him.”

“By cutting his chest open?” asked Artemis.

“It worked, didn’t it?” asked Ares.

“Wait, which Lawrence are we talkin’ about here?” asked Applejack as the girls donned their bronze helmets.

“Uh, Lawrence of Arabia, I believe you mortals call him,” said Ares.

“As in the British war-hero on the Arabian front in World War 1?” asked Twilight, astonished.

“Indeed. And as you can imagine, he benefited so much from my training that the Ottomans were, of course, crushed,” said Ares. “Now then… if there are no further questions or interruptions as such…” He then drew his sword and readied his shield. “Let us begin.”

“Wait, what about our shields?” asked Twilight.

“Oh, of course,” said Hephaestus, picking up a pile of shields. “I thought I was forgetting something.” He quickly threw them one by one, like discus, to the girls, lodging them in the ground near their feet, allowing the girls to pick them up, seeing the insignias were their Cutie Marks.

“Where’d you get the idea for this?” asked Twilight.

“Your geodes,” said the smith. “When I first saw them, I believed they were just like the ordinary jewelry I make for Aphrodite, but now that I know their power, I made you shields based on them.”

“Cool,” said Rainbow, looking hers over on her arm.

“That’s not even the best thing about them,” said Hephaestus. “You see the trigger in the hand-grip? Pull it.” The girls found the triggers and did as they were told, causing the shields to fold on an axis on their arms. They pulled the triggers again and they folded back out into full bronze shields.

“Nice,” said Sunset. “These’ll come in handy.”

“Not to mention, function and fashion,” said Rarity. “A girl always does love that.”

“Right then,” said Ares, sword ready in hand. “Let the training begin!” From the moment the girls first collided blade and shield, to the moment when their swords were knocked from their hands, they knew this was going to take a while. But at last, after a lot of battle and pointers from Ares, their swordsmanship training was done, and the girls were basically drenched in sweat.

“Okay,” said Ares, walking off and removing his helmet and equipment. “What say we take five before the twins begin your archery training?”

“Fine by me,” said Rarity, holding her handkerchief to her nose to mask the scent of hers and the others’ sweat. “At least this way, I can have time to have a bath.”

“Ah, you’ll want Hebe for that,” said Apollo. “She bathes you, your life energy is fully recharged.”

“Well then, perhaps I’ll take her up on that,” said Rarity as she walked off. After a bit, she returned bursting with energy to find the girls all having water while Athena showed them the basics of battlefield strategy on a map with small bronze figurines. Rarity got a quick blast of context of the lessons from Rainbow before she sat down with the others and saw a gold basin full of ice and glass water bottles.

“Fresh Mountain Valley,” said Apollo as he and his sister shared one. “Care for some?”

“Please,” said Rarity, accepting a bottle of the sparkling variety.

“Okay then,” said Artemis, sharpening one of her arrows. “Are we ready to begin?”

“Yep,” said Athena. “I’ve finished my little demo here. They’re all yours, twins.”

“Okay, let’s go,” said Artemis as they all got up and made their way to a large archery range on the other side of the arena.

“Okay, so… have any of you ever had any archery training prior to this?” asked Apollo as he and Artemis handed out bows.

“Well, it was a required course at Crystal Prep,” said Twilight. “But I flunked it.”

“I’m fair nuff at it,” said Applejack.

“Okay then,” said Apollo passing out quivers, and pointing down to the other end to show a small battalion of human and monster-shaped targets. “Here’s how we do this little tango; You’re gonna aim for the vital organs of those targets down there. Miss your target, you try again. You get the head or heart on the first shot; your accuracy is good enough to fight. Questions?” Fluttershy raised her hand, shaking.

“Um, yes, I’m not sure how I feel about this,” she said. “I mean, um, I have a sort of kinship with animals, especially with my geode powers, so um, I don’t feel great about hurting these creatures.”

“Oh, don’t worry,” said Artemis. “I have a kinship with animals too, so I made a code for my hunts with Hades; Every animal I strike down receives a proper burial and an easy life in the Elysium Fields of the Underworld.”

“That’s a lovely code, Artemis,” said Twilight.

“Besides, if the stories of Greece’s heroes that you’ve passed down are any indication, most monsters we’ll likely have to fight on our quest for the Fleece are as far from human or true animal as you can get,” said Apollo. “Take the Nemean Lion, for example; a standard lion at first glance, but when attacked, any weapon shatters against its fur, all armor splits open with a single swipe of its claws, and any mortal foolish enough to come across it was eaten alive.” At hearing that, Fluttershy was instantly quivering in her bronze boots. “But not to worry, we won’t have to deal with it.”

“Why? What happened to it?” asked Sunset.

“Hercules,” the twins said in perfect sync.

“Now then, if there are no further questions, let us begin,” said Apollo, stepping to the side. “Ready…” The girls all knocked arrows and pulled back their strings. “Aim…” The bows shifted and rattled as the girls took aim. “Fire!” The arrows flew well, aiming for the chests of the humanoid targets, but only one or two of them made contact on the intended targets. “Again!” And so they went, over and over, until finally, all the targets had arrows embedded in their vitals. From their balcony, where they had watched the whole thing, Zeus and the other high Olympians applauded.

“Excellent work, my children,” said the Thunderer. “I’d say we’re ready to get underway.”

“I would be inclined to agree with you, father,” said Athena. “We’ll meet you at Piraeus Harbor. I trust we already have a ship?”

“The modern _Argo_ ,” said Poseidon. “I just received word that my son Triton has sent it from Atlantis, and it’s looking for a place to dock. I’ll tell him Piraeus.”

“Excellent,” said Athena. “We’ll see you there.” With that, the high gods disappeared in a flash of lightning.

“So how do we get down there?” asked Sunset.

“Simple,” said Apollo and gave a loud whistle. At that, a magnificent white horse with huge feathered wings flew in dragging a large gilded carriage. “Girls, meet Pegasus.”

“A lovely steed,” said Rarity. “Let’s go riding.” The group quickly boarded the carriage and Apollo took Pegasus’ reigns and cracked them, prompting the great steed to fly off with the cart in tow towards Piraeus.


	6. The New Argonauts

While on the ride to Piraeus, Rainbow had some time to voice some questions about her understanding of mythology.

“Hey, this is gonna sound completely random,” she said. “But based on everything I’ve heard, Hebe was supposed to be Hercules’ wife, right? So, where was he?” Artemis rolled her eyes as she was restringing her bow.

“Okay, first of all, ‘Hercules’ was his Roman name,” she said, testing the tension of the string. “His true Greek name is Heracles, named of course in honor of Hera.”

“That seems kind of ironic, seeing as how he wasn’t born to her,” said Twilight.

“I know, right?” asked Ares. “And all those stories about him murdering his family in a fit of rage and those twelve labors? That was all her doing as well.”

“Wow,” said Pinkie. “His life sounds like it sucked.”

“Oh, it did,” said Hephaestus. “Especially since his whole reason for becoming a god was essentially being melted alive by the poisonous blood of the Hydra he himself killed, so he had to burn himself.”

“Sheesh,” said Rainbow. “I have a lot of reading to do on this trip.”

“Oh yeah,” said Applejack. “But I gotta agree with her on one thing; we didn’t see the guy on Olympus anywhere, so where is he?”

“Well, if I know our cousin, I’d say he’s out on some sort of battlefield showing off,” said Artemis, checking her arrows to make sure they were sharp. “He was always that kind of god.”

“He was always that kind of _person_ , Artemis,” said Apollo from the reigns. “He was like that long before he was divine.”

“Oh yeah,” said Artemis.

“Wait, wasn’t he on the original Argo with Jason when he went after the Fleece?” asked Rarity.

“Yeah, he was,” said Ares as the carriage landed near the port. “And if I know him, he’s going to want to come along.”

“Well, you’d be right there, Ares,” said Hermes as they got off the carriage. “He just showed up.” The group looked and saw a strong looking tall man with shining blue eyes, bright blonde hair extending down to his chin in the form of a short beard, wearing a black suit with a gold tie and a dull tan jacket holding a black briefcase, clearly full of weapons.

“Ah, cousin!” said Ares, grabbing his arm and shaking his hand. “So nice to see you.”

“And you, Ares,” said Heracles. “Hebe explained everything earlier, so I know what to expect. But of course, you must understand I’m not exactly in favor of mortals helping us.”

“Well, it might help your opinion of them to know that we trained them,” said Apollo, tuning his lyre.

“Really?” asked Heracles. “Well then… that changes things.”

“Okay, so where’s the boat?” asked Pinkie. Then she looked over and saw a man that resembled Poseidon, but with a full head of hair, little more than black stubble on his chin and dressed like an old mariner with a long brown coat and a belt across his chest with a squid-shaped charm on his buckle.

“Right over here,” he said, pointing to one side of the harbor to a large triple-masted sailing yacht littered with the other gods, and it was so huge, it almost looked unsuitable for the small birth in the harbor.

“Say hello to the newest _Argo_ ,” said Zeus as he welcomed everyone aboard, Heracles’ clothing transforming into bronze armor and a lion’s skin on his shoulders secured by the forepaws and its head on top of his as a sort of hood, and his briefcase changing into a large sack that sounded to be full of weapons. “Poseidon’s son Triton built her from as many scraps of the original as he could get his hands on after it was abandoned after Jason’s quest for the Fleece ended.”

“She’s a lovely ship, don’t you think?” asked Poseidon, stroking his beard.

“Oh yeah,” said Rainbow, knocking her heel against the deck. “I could get used to traveling like this.”

“Hey now!” called a voice. The girls looked off the ship and saw a young tan man with blonde hair and red eyes running over to the ship with a woman on his arm. He was dressed in a red dress shirt and tan duster with jeans and boots and a large case strapped to his back. The woman had bright blue eyes and striking blonde hair and was wearing a pink toga. “You weren’t gonna leave without us, were ya?”

“Far from it, Eros,” said Zeus. “You and Psyche are always welcome on one of our journeys.” The two quickly boarded the _Argo_ , just before Poseidon cast the ship off and they started sailing out into the Mediterranean Sea. Once out in the water, Eros saw an opportunity to introduce himself.

“Ladies,” he said bowing like a gentleman. “I am Eros, God of Love. And this, of course, is my most lovely wife Psyche, goddess of the soul.” He kissed his lovely bride on the cheek and made her giggle a bit.

“Oh, do stop Eros,” she said, hugging his arm. “You’re flattering me.” Rarity saw Aphrodite roll her eyes at him as she walked over to one side and was confused.

“What’s our heading, Twilight?” asked Poseidon from the helm of the ship. Twilight herself quickly unfurled the map on the table.

“South by southeast to start, Lord Poseidon,” she said, reading the map. “But this is gonna be a long trip, so we’ll probably have to make a few stops along the way.” While Poseidon was shifting the ship in the ordered direction, Rarity walked over to Aphrodite, still confused.

“Penny for your thoughts, my lady?” she asked.

“Ah, I’m still a bit sore about my son flaunting that wench like an easy battle trophy,” said Aphrodite.

“Who, Psyche?” asked Rarity. “Oh, I don’t know, she seems pleasant enough.”

“Of course she’s pleasant, but that’s not the problem,” said the goddess. “If she could be at least a bit more plain-looking, that would be much more agreeable.” Then Rarity looked at Psyche and compared her to Aphrodite herself.

“Yes, she does seem quite lovely,” said Rarity.

“Exactly,” said Aphrodite. “And I honestly hate her for that.”

“Beg pardon?” asked Rarity, growing confused all over again.

“Ah, don’t mind her,” said Athena, polishing her shield. “She’s always been jealous of mortal women better-looking than her.”

“Huh,” said Rarity, honestly disgraced by her. “Honestly my dear, don’t you think that’s a sort of perversion of your gift?”

“No, all that disgusting pornography you mortals put up on the internet is a perversion of my gift,” said Aphrodite. “Compared to that, this is fully justified.” Rarity was about to counter that, but realized she actually had a good point.

“Touché,” she said simply and left. At last, they were on their way to finally defeating the Sirens and saving the world.


	7. The Labyrinth

While they were traveling, Sunset and Zeus agreed they would have to stop on the island of Crete to resupply the ship and were bringing it up with the others.

“I wouldn’t,” said Poseidon. “After all, if we’re not careful, we might fall into the Labyrinth.”

“And fall right into the path of an angry, waiting, and quite possibly starving, not to mention man-eating, Minotaur,” said Twilight. “Yeah, I don’t know about this.”

“Oh, come now girls,” said Heracles, swinging a large club around in his hand. “I’m living proof that if you want to be a true Greek hero, you have to conquer at least one horrifying monster.”

“Wait, I thought the Minotaur has already been slain,” said Rarity.

“It was, once,” said Hades. “By the hero Theseus, but it was reborn several years ago and it’s been tormenting its home in the Labyrinth ever since.”

“Like it or not, Twilight, we have to resupply before we can move on to Georgia,” said Sunset, grabbing a good-looking sword from a rack nearby. “Besides, Heracles is right. We really wanna be heroes? Might as well kill that thing as long as we’re here.”

“Ugh, fine,” said Twilight as she grabbed a spear. “But if we do come across it, we’ll deal with it the same way Theseus did. Who’s got a roll of twine?”

“Heads up,” said Artemis, tossing one glowing bright blue of the moon to her.

“I’ll go with you guys,” said Eros, brandishing a sort-of steampunk-style bronze sniper rifle with a glass capsule filled with fire on his belt. “I might be the God of Love, but that doesn’t mean I know how to fight.”

“Just come back safe, okay dear?” asked Psyche.

“Always, my love,” said Eros, bowing to his wife. Once the _Argo_ reached Cretan waters, the girls were sent ashore with Eros in a lifeboat, and upon reaching the ancient palace of the Cretan King Minos, they saw it still stood proud and with hallways filled with torches still wet with oil.

“Search for supplies,” said Sunset. “Anything we can use for this trip.” The girls did so, and it left Rainbow alone with Eros as they searched.

“So… what’s the story with this Minotaur thing?” she asked.

“Kind of a long story, but to make it short, Minos sinned against Poseidon by sacrificing a lesser bull to him, so Poseidon made his wife fall in love with his prized bull,” said Eros. “She climbs into a cow costume completely naked, nine months later, boom! Minotaur.”

“Ew!” said Rainbow, trying to keep herself from puking in her shield.

“Of course, as Hades said, the great prince of Athens; Theseus, slew the monster and ended its original rampage, but it was reborn,” said Eros.

“So we’re gonna have to kill it ourselves,” said Rainbow, grabbing a crate that smelled to be full of food.

“If it hasn’t starved to death already,” said Eros. “See, when Minos imprisoned the Minotaur in the Labyrinth, he used it as a weapon against Athens. Every nine years, 14 Athenian virgins; seven of each gender, are enslaved, thrown into the Labyrinth and essentially sacrificed to the Minotaur as food to prevent a full-scale war.”

“Wait, why virgins?” asked Rainbow.

“The ancients believed being virgins made them closer to the gods, seeing as how there are more than a few virgins on Olympus,” said Eros. “Of course, I’m not one of them, but I digress.” Then they heard loud growling under their feet, which sounded like a large bull lowing in anger.

“What the heck was that?!” asked Sunset as the others ran over to them.

“That, girls, I believe…” said Eros. “Was the Minotaur.”

“What?!” asked Fluttershy, terrified.

“Well, where is it?” asked Applejack, brandishing her war-club.

“In the Labyrinth, underground,” said Eros. “Where it must’ve been for the last several thousand years.” Then the ground started rumbling.

“What the-? Is that an earthquake?” asked Spike.

“No, Poseidon would’ve warned us before he did that,” said Eros. Then a large rumbling echoed through the ground before the floor under them started collapsing, sending the team falling down into a large vaulted hallway. They all got up groaning and shaking off the dust.

“Are you okay down there?” asked a voice from above. The team looked up and saw Psyche looking over the hole.

“Psyche?” asked Eros. “What are you doing here? I thought I told you to stay with the ship.”

“Actually, you didn’t say that,” said Pinkie.

“Didn’t I?” asked Eros. “Oh. Well, I meant to. But seriously, what are you doing here?”

“I figured you could use some help,” said Psyche.

“Yeah, some help would be nice,” said Eros. “Go get the others, or at least a rope ladder so we can get out.” Then Applejack saw something behind them and pulled out her shield.

“Uh, Ah think we might have to deal with something before we deal with that,” she said, pointing behind them. The team looked and saw a huge beast with the body and arms of a large strong man covered with scars and a white muscle shirt, and the legs of a bull covered by large tan pants, not to mention the horned head of a bull with a gold nose-ring, holding a huge bronze-bladed ax.

“Tell me that’s not the-” began Sunset, but it gave a loud, angry lowing, almost like a roar.

“MINOTAUR!” yelled Spike as he jumped into Twilight’s bag.

“Run!” yelled Eros. The group quickly followed the god’s command, as did Psyche. Or, at least she tried, but the Minotaur grabbed her by her toga and pulled her into the Labyrinth, making her scream and prompting Eros to stop and see his wife in the beast’s clutches.

“Psyche!” he yelled and leveled his rifle. “Let her go, you son of a bitch!” He fired a huge burst of flame out of his gun at the beast, burning its arm and making him drop Psyche.

“Fine,” it growled in a loud, gruff voice. “Keep her. I’ve already got a meal waiting for me in my home.” The monster ran off for the center, but not before slashing part of a wall nearby, blocking off their path to follow him.

“Ugh. Great,” said Sunset. “Now what?”

“We have to get to the center,” said Twilight. “If the Minotaur already has a victim, we have to save him.”

“Assuming they aren’t already dead,” said Eros. “We’ll have to hurry.”

“All right, but if it’s a guy, I don’t want him,” said Rainbow, being as much of a loner as ever. The rest of the group paid her no heed and quickly moved as a group, Twilight tying off the end of her role of twine, and securing it to her belt on a roller so they wouldn’t get lost, ignoring the stench of death in the halls as best they could and following the echoing of the Minotaur’s growling through the tunnels where they happened upon the center of the labyrinth just in time for…

“Oh nuts,” said Twilight, checking her belt.

“What?” asked Eros.

“We just ran out of twine,” she replied. The group looked behind them and saw a literal two-mile-long trail of twine behind them, and Twilight holding the very end of it.

“I’m honestly shocked we had that much,” said Rarity.

“We didn’t,” said Twilight. “I found another line further down and spliced them together.”

“Wait, so we’ve been following someone else’s line this whole time?” asked Rainbow.

“So it would appear,” said Twilight, looking back down the line.

“Who would be insane enough to come down into the home of a monster like the Minotaur?” asked Sunset. Pinkie opened her mouth. “Not us, Pinkie. We’ve got a couple of gods with us, so our being down here is justified.” Pinkie then closed her mouth.

“Well, either way, we’re here,” said Applejack.

“Yes, you are,” said the Minotaur, who the girls literally just noticed was in the room with them, hefting his ax above his shoulder. “And now… You DIE!” He swung his ax toward them, but Applejack quickly flipped out her shield and used her powers to knock the ax away. Quickly, the others followed suit, including Fluttershy which shocked everyone there.

“Fluttershy, what are you doing?” asked Rainbow. “I thought you were a pacifist.”

“I was, before this,” said Fluttershy. “But Lord Apollo’s right; this thing is no animal, so I can kill it with no problems.”

“Kill me?” asked the Minotaur and it broke into loud mocking laughter. “You make the mistake of assuming I’ll give you a chance.”

“Nah,” said Applejack. “I’ve rangled tougher bulls than you, buddy. I can take ya.”

“Is that so?” asked the beast. “Alright then. Try it!” He swung his ax again, with the same result as last time; Applejack knocking it up into the air and charging to slash at the monster’s stomach.

“Find the other prisoner!” she yelled, dodging the ax. “Ah dunno how long Ah can keep this big guy goin’!”

“You heard her, ladies!” said Eros, readying his rifle. “Start searching!” Quickly, the group started searching the chamber until they saw a large cage above them and someone leaning against the bars looking at the scene.

“Up there!” yelled Psyche. “Are you okay?!”

“Fine, just get me out of here!” the prisoner yelled in a male voice. Just then, Applejack was thrown through a wall nearby into an adjacent hallway, but instead of moving to finish her off, the Minotaur moved to attack the others. Then Applejack saw a length of chain nearby, and instantly got an idea. The Minotaur had just reached the others and was growling at them intimidatingly.

“Get away from my DINNER!” it yelled and moved to attack, but then a chain noose flew over and locked themselves around its horns. The group looked to the other end of the chain and saw Applejack hanging on to the chain without even breaking a sweat as the Minotaur struggled to get the chain off.

“YEE-HAW!” yelled the cowgirl. “Cmon now, buddy! Calm down!” But the Minotaur wouldn’t listen to reason, so it had to listen to the girls severing its Achilles tendons and the tendons in its arms, making it fall on its back, unable to move. Once down, Applejack gathered her chain lasso and moved to stand on its chest, sword ready.

“Told ya I rangled tougher,” she said simply. The Minotaur uttered a final angry growl before Applejack delivered the finishing blow; driving her sword straight into the monster’s heart. Blood gushed from the wound like a brilliant crimson fountain, coating the country girl from head to toe in thick, dripping monster blood. Then she realized the fact she was basically saturated with the monster’s essence, so she tried to rub it off her face with her arm, but it didn’t work well.

“Uh… Anyone got any ideas?” she asked.

“Uh yeah, just hold still for a second,” said Eros, taking his fire essence canister out of his rifle. “Uh Psyche, I did have some water essence, right?”

“Yeah, right here,” she said, handing him a canister containing what looked like an ocean being tossed by a storm.

“Thanks dear,” said the god, locking it in and firing a small tidal wave at Applejack, washing off every drop of blood. Finally, the others managed to get the prisoner’s cage down from the ground and reveal who it was; a young man who appeared to be from Canterlot City as well, what with his gold skin and blue hair in a mop-top style, along with blue eyes under a pair of silver-rimmed John Lennon-style glasses. He was wearing a sort of semi-formal outfit with a white dress shirt and black tie under a yellow dress-vest, along with a pair of jeans and special-looking black sneakers, along with an image on his vest resembling an artist’s pallet and paintbrush with a tip dipped in blue paint. But he seemed rather thin and weak, as if he hadn’t eaten for a while; it looked like the Minotaur had been saving him for a special occasion or something. He barely even got out of the cage before he tripped over the foot of it and fell onto his hands and feet.

“Are you okay?” asked Sunset, helping him up. Silently, Eros and Psyche came to a consensus, and in the space that it took Spike to blink, Eros quickly drew a small pistol loaded with a smaller capsule of the love essence that his rifle had first been loaded with at Piraeus harbor and fired it at the prisoner and slipped the pistol back into its holster before any of the others noticed. And anyone who’s paid attention to their mythology readings knows that when shot by Eros’ love essence, you fall madly in love with the first person you look at. The man looked up and instantly the love bullet took effect, making him fall into a quiet love with Sunset, causing him to blush.

“Uh… Y-Yeah,” he said, getting up. “Yeah, just a little hungry.”

“Oh, Demeter will be able to help with that,” said Eros, strapping his rifle to his back.

“Wait a sec,” said the man. “Demeter? As in-?”

“The Greek God of the Harvest, yeah that’s her,” said Applejack.

“Long story short; all those stories about the Greek Gods and all that are real,” said Rainbow. “And we’re on a quest with them to stop a gang of Sirens from stealing the Golden Fleece and taking over the world.” The man paused for a second and ran his hand through his hair, letting out a long breath.

“Wow. This is a lot to take in,” he said.

“Trust me, I know,” said Twilight, before it occurred to her. “Wait a second. Don’t I know you from somewhere?” The man looked at her and adjusted his glasses to look at her.

“I… think so,” he said. Then Spike looked at him and snapped his forepaw-toes like fingers.

“Of course,” he said. “He was at Crystal Prep once, remember?”

“Oh yeah, that’s right,” said Twilight. The man just blinked for a second before he freaked out about Spike.

“THERE’S A TALKING DOG HERE!” he yelled, jumping over to the wall in surprise.

“Yeah, can’t say I’m not surprised,” said Spike, seemingly bored at his reaction. “I’m used to it.”

“Still though,” said Sunset. “Be a little more open.” The man instantly realized she was right just before he noticed a black pack on the wall nearby.

“R-Right, sorry,” he said, picking up the pack and slinging it onto his back. “But wait… yeah, now you’re starting to look familiar. You were the over-achiever at CPA.”

“Yeah, and you were the artist weirdo,” said Twilight.

“Whoa, way to label him, Twilight,” said Pinkie. The man just chuckled as he walked back over, avoiding the Minotaur blood literally everywhere.

“Don’t worry, she’s not actually wrong,” he said. “My name is Vincent Van Colt, and as… Twilight, was it?” She nodded. “Okay, cool. Anyway, as she sorta said, I am an aspiring _artiste_ , which is actually the reason I came to Greece; I just wanted to get some Mediterranean spice, as it were, into my work. Also, the food in this neck of the woods is amazing.”

“Right?” asked Applejack.

“So the pack is…?” asked Rainbow.

“Full of my equipment,” said Vincent, pulling a sketchbook out of one of the pouches of his bag. “I was just in Crete to do some work of King Minos’ palace when that Minotaur grabbed me and pulled me down here.”

“I’m honestly surprised you survived this long,” said Eros. “If the Minotaur’s been down here for as long as I think he has, I’d imagine he would’ve eaten you on the spot after capturing you.”

“Well, what can I say? Guess I dodged a bullet,” said Vincent. “And I got to get some good sketches of this place either way. Here, check it out.” The group looked at Vincent’s sketchbook and saw he was actually a very detailed artist, capturing everything from the shimmer in ripples in the water to small uneven patches of skin near a person’s eye.

“Wow,” said Sunset. “These are beautiful.”

“Just like you,” said Vincent quietly.

“Say what?” she asked.

“Oh! Uh, nothing!” he said quickly. Eros snickered at him, and this clued Twilight in that he must’ve had something to do with this.

“Well, if we’re done here, I suggest we head back to the _Argo_ ,” said the god. The others agreed and moved to leave, but then the Minotaur’s weapon caught Applejack’s eye.

“Hang on a sec, I’m takin’ this,” she said, grabbing it. “Might be a good weapon.” Then, as the ax was too big for her in its present form, it started glowing and shrank down to a more manageable size before the glow subsided. “Nice. I am diggin’ the whole magic weapon things.” Then the group moved along Twilight’s line of twine back to the hole where they fell in. Once there, Applejack started moving large rocks over to form a makeshift staircase. Once back on the surface, the group made their way back to the ship and they set sail again.


	8. New Relations

While sailing, Twilight still couldn’t help but think about why Eros snickered back in the labyrinth as she watched Vincent’s eyes follow Sunset around the deck. Finally, when Eros passed her nearby, she got to ask.

“You shot Vincent to fall in love with Sunset, didn’t you?” she asked. The god smirked and looked down the scope of his rifle.

“I may or may not have,” he said. “But you have to admit; they do look like they might make a pretty cute couple.”

“Not arguing, just asking,” said Twilight. Then Apollo walked over with a band of nymphs as Dionysus and Hebe set up a sort of bar.

“Okay everybody,” said the music god. “Who’s up for a little bit of music as we sail?” The others all cheered in agreement and Apollo and his nymphs started playing.

**(Look up 91 Νησιώτικα Τραγούδια on Spotify and listen to it _in order_ , so no shuffle)**

As the band played, the team walked around almost like it was a bar, and some even started dancing on the deck. While all this was going on, Sunset just snuck over to the bar and snagged a drink of nectar, which actually went down easier than last time. Then Vincent walked over, sketchbook in hand.

“So how’s business been?” she asked him.

“Eh, pretty good,” he said, getting a drink as well. “But I’ve been wanting to sort of branch out if you understand. Mostly I’ve done objects, landscapes, and close-up pictures, but I’ve been wanting to do a full-body picture for a while.”

“Well, good luck with that,” said Sunset.

“Actually, I was sort of hoping to start that expansion with you,” said Vincent, blushing and prompting an unusual look in Sunset’s eye.

“I’m sorry?” she asked.

“Yeah, me too,” said Vincent. “I didn’t mean to spring it on you out of nowhere, but I mean, with your looks, I think you might just be perfect for it.” Sunset blushed as well and smiled a bit.

“Well, okay,” she said. “I guess I can go that low if you want me to.” Then she stood with her back to the bar, crossed her legs a bit and looked to her right a little, and gave a little smile. “How’s this?”

Vincent walked over to in front of her and got a good look over of her, smiling. “Wonderful, but if you could do me a huge favor and remove your armor for a minute?” he asked. Sunset conceded and removed her bronze armor, revealing an outfit similar to her original, but her skirt was shorter and more tight-fitting, and her symbol was a charm on a necklace. “Excellent, okay now hold absolutely still.” Quickly, Vincent started scribbling until he finished the outline. Then he moved for the color and started filling Sunset in perfectly, making her picture look absolutely gorgeous. “Done,” he said finally. Sunset moved over to it and blushed at how great it looked.

“Wow. Man, you really know how to capture a person,” she said. “I look… perfect.”

“Well, no offense, but… you actually really are,” said Vincent. Sunset’s face turned bright red at that, but she shook it off as she left. Unbeknownst to either of them, Eros and Aphrodite had seen the whole thing from their table nearby.

“See, Mother? What did I tell you?” asked Eros.

“Yeah, nice work son,” said Aphrodite. “They’re going to be gorgeous together.”

“What are we talking about?” asked Heracles sitting down with them.

“Nothing much, just my latest bit of target practice,” said Eros, pointing at Vincent and Sunset.

“Oh aye, excellent work, cousin,” said Heracles, adjusting his cloak. “Perhaps they’ll be the greatest hero duo in all of history.”

“Well, if that’s true, they’ll have to get it together fast,” said Athena, looking through a telescope at an island off in the distance.

“Why?” asked Rainbow.

“Because we’re closing in on the island of Medusa,” said Athena, instantly stopping all the partying.

“And would I be correct in assuming that she’s got the same sort of rules as the Minotaur?” asked Twilight.

“Yes,” said Athena. “And if she hears either me or Poseidon is coming toward her island, she’ll go berserk.”

“So we’ll do it,” said Sunset. “We’ll go ashore and take care of her. Besides, I think you need her head for your shield can have its powers back.”

“Yeah, I do,” said Athena. “But just remember one thing; if you look Medusa in the eye, even after you’ve already decapitated her, you’ll be petrified.”

“Okay, so don’t look at the crazy snake-hair lady head-on,” said Rainbow, grabbing her weapons. “Let’s do this.”

“Wait a moment, darling,” said Rarity. “If that’s how it works, why not bring a mirror?”

“Ah. Channeling Perseus. I like it,” said Heracles. “If you wish to continue so, I would suggest you wait until nightfall and head over while she’s asleep.”

“Smart,” said Rarity, taking a small but sharp dagger. “I’ll do it.” And so they waited…


	9. The Gorgon

When the titans Helios of the Sun and Selene of the Moon switched places in the sky, Rarity went ashore in a boat with Applejack on the oars where they happened upon a small cave in the side of a mountain. But as Applejack was going for her new ax, Rarity stopped her.

“Wait a moment, darling,” she said. “I was just thinking. I read about Medusa’s true origins and it wasn’t even her real fault she was turned into what she is.”

“So what are you suggestin’?” asked Applejack, hand still on the handle of her ax.

“I’m suggesting that if we just ask her to help us beat the Sirens, we’ll have Athena change her back to normal,” said Rarity. Then a loud barely feminine voice echoed from the cave.

“Athena…” it hissed, prompting Applejack to pull out her ax.

“Ah don’t think she’ll be as open to that as you might think, Rarity,” said Applejack. “Split up! You distract her, Ah’ll do the thing.” Quickly, Applejack dove behind a rock nearby and pulled on a blindfold, and Rarity turned away and looked in her pocket mirror at the cave to see the Gorgon herself slither out of the cave on a large serpent-like tail in place of her legs. The scales on her tail appeared to spread up the rest of her body, turning her entire body a pale olive green and turning her eyes shimmering gold and snake-like. Amazingly, the last several centuries had not changed her fashion sense as she still wore a pearl white toga. But then, Medusa noticed Rarity, prompting her to close her eyes before the monster grabbed her.

“I heard you talking out here,” she hissed. “How you’re sailing with my old patron. Where is she?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” said Rarity, keeping her eyes bolted shut. Medusa’s snake-hair hissed in her face and writhed around, slipping on Rarity’s, making her shiver.

“My babies tell me your eyes are bluer than the Aegean Sea,” said Medusa. “Might I see them for a moment?”

“While I appreciate the compliment, I’m afraid not,” said Rarity, keeping her eyes closed and hearing Applejack’s boots clomping on the dirt and rock above her. “Say hello to the Minotaur in Tartarus.” Medusa got the picture far too late as Applejack jumped down onto her and tied a burlap sack onto her head, blinding her. Once Rarity understood this by her muffled yelling, she opened her eyes and the two of them proceeded to kick the ever-loving shit out of her snaky ass to get her on the ground after a few minutes actually regressing to actual kicking. Before long, Medusa’s body was covered in mud, scrapes, and bruises from the beating.

“Okay-okay-wait, stop, stop, stop! Stop” she yelled. The girls stopped for a second and listened. “Listen, I understand you’re going to kill me now, but if you found my island, then you must know what happened to me to make me look like this.”

“Yeah,” said Applejack.

“Then you know I’m innocent of all this,” said Medusa, sounding genuinely remorseful. “So can you please grant an innocent woman one last request before she dies?”

Applejack almost said something, but Rarity stopped her. “Name it,” she said, feeling genuine empathy for the Gorgon.

“I wish to die, looking myself in the face,” said Medusa. “At least let me look at my reflection in the ocean as you take my head.”

“And what’s to stop you from turnin’ round and turnin’ us to stone?” asked Applejack. “Also, won’t that turn _you_ to stone?”

“If it makes you feel any better, I swear on the River Styx that my gaze or that of my pets will not shift from the water one inch,” said Medusa. “Also, if that’s how it worked, I’d have been turned to stone hundreds of times over, wouldn’t I?”

“She has a point,” said Rarity.

“So then?” asked Medusa. “Will you grant me my last request?” Applejack looked at Rarity and they both came to a silent agreement.

“Okay,” said Applejack. They dragged the Gorgon to the beach and forced her to kneel before Applejack pulled the bag off her head, allowing her to look at her reflection one last time. She let a single poisonous tear fall from her face into the tidepool as she gave a small happy smile.

“Thank you,” she said simply. “Go ahead.” Applejack nodded as she took up her ax and got the angle of her neck, ready to cut. Then with one strong swing, the Gorgon’s head fell from her body into the water with a small splash. Applejack kneeled and picked up the head, putting it back into the bag.

“At least it was quick,” said Applejack, tying the bag to her belt.

“At least we showed her mercy and granted her wish,” said Rarity. “But what about her body?”

“Might as well give her a proper burial,” said Applejack. “Or… as proper as we can without her having a head.” They picked her body up and placed it in a small hole near her cave. Then Applejack pulled a single gold drachma off her belt and stuffed it down the monster’s throat before they piled stones on top of her.

“May you have a better life in the Underworld than on the mortal plane, Medusa,” said Rarity, seemingly blessing her grave. Then they made their way back to the ship to find the others looking at them with proud looks on their faces.

“Well done, girls,” said Hades, actually smiling for the first time since they’d met him. “I’m sure she’ll thank you in the future.”

“I certainly hope so,” said Rarity. “You know, aside from the looks, she actually seems like a remarkable person.”

“She was,” said Athena. “I should know. She was once one of my priestesses until my nymphomaniac ‘Earth-shaker’ uncle here raped her. In. My! OWN! TEMPLE!!!”

“Wait, seriously?” asked Rainbow.

“That was four thousand years ago, Athena,” said Poseidon. “Get over it. Also, are you really talking to me about that sort of thing when your own father has cheated on his wife so many times, he barely even remembers he’s married?”

“Lies and slander!” said Zeus indignantly.

“Oh really?” asked Poseidon slyly, stroking his beard. “Then explain ‘name a mortal myth’.”

“That wasn’t all me!” said Zeus. “After all, need I remind you of Bellerophon? Or maybe Theseus?”

“Oh, you little-!” yelled Poseidon as the two started arguing, prompting everyone to roll their eyes, facepalm or give a long exasperated sigh, though that last thing was actually mostly Hera.

“Are they always like this?” asked Twilight.

“You have no idea,” said the goddess. “The ridiculous thing is Poseidon’s actually right.”

“Alright brothers, break it up,” said Hades, walking over and trying to get them to calm down, but he only ended up getting wrapped up in their argument.

“Sheesh,” said Vincent, rubbing his temple. “Look, let’s just get moving. Maybe they’ll get over it.”

“Right,” said Sunset, going over to Twilight, Athena, and Heracles with the map. “How much further?”

“Not much,” said Twilight, looking the map over. “We’re in the Sea of Marmara now, so once we pass through the Kanal Istanbul, then it’s a few miles north then it’s basically a straight shot east to Poti, Georgia, where the Fleece should be.”

“Good,” said Sunset. “Alright, let’s get a move on!” And at that command, the _Argo_ set sail toward the canal.


	10. The Feels

While they were crossing through the channel, the argument between the three brothers had finally died down and they were back to driving. But as they passed down the waterway, Vincent grew curious about something.

“Say, Lady Demeter, I know your cornucopia can make food, but what about flowers?” he asked.

“Hmm. Well, it could back in the day, but lately my daughter Persephone’s been dealing with that, so it’s been a long time since I’ve tried it myself,” she said, looking into the reed horn. “What kind would you like?”

“Rose,” said Vincent. “Blood red, and as few thorns as possible.”

“Well, that’s doable, but it’s a bit more complicated than that,” said Demeter. “I can give you a white rose, but to make it blood red, I’d need a few drops of actual blood.”

“That’s how that works?” asked Vincent, surprised.

“Of course,” said Demeter. “Now then, since I can only assume this is for Sunset, the blood will actually need to be her’s.”

“Ugh. Great,” said Vincent. “How am I gonna get some of Sunset’s blood?”

“I have some,” said Twilight, holding out a blood bag with Sunset’s symbol on it. This prompted an understandable confusion from Vincent and Demeter.

“Why?” asked Vincent.

“Well, we had a blood drive at school before we got out here, and she donated,” said Twilight.

“I think he means ‘Why do you have her blood’?” asked Demeter, echoing her own concerns.

“It’s a long, complicated, and honestly kinda boring story,” said Twilight. “Anyways, here.” Then she handed the bag to Vincent, still confused. “And just so you know, I’m gonna want that back when you’re done.” Then she walked off back to the map. Vincent shared an honestly terrified look at the harvest goddess.

“My opinion of her has just instantly changed,” he said.

“Agreed,” said Demeter. “But as long as we have it…” Then she used her power to make a single white rose grow from the cornucopia, which Vincent used the bag to drip some of Sunset’s blood onto, turning the pedals a burning red.

“Nice,” said Vincent, plucking it from the horn. “Thank you, my lady.” Then he left, handed the blood bag back to Twilight, which Athena was also unbelievably confused about, and found Sunset hanging out on the back of the ship, staring out into the ocean.

“You okay?” asked Vincent.

“I was just thinking,” she said. “If Medusa’s blood is as poisonous as I think it is, wouldn’t the ocean be poisoned forever?”

“No, I don’t think it works like that,” said Vincent. “Her blood creates poisonous snakes once it drips out of her body.”

“Oh, right,” said Sunset, pinching her forehead. “So then there are probably a couple dozen new poisonous eels in the sea now, huh?”

“I’d bet so,” said Vincent. “Oh, and speaking of blood…” Then he presented her with the rose, making her blush bright red.

“Oh, uh… Thank you,” she said, accepting it. “Been a long time since I’ve gotten a gift like this.”

“Not a lot of guys lining up for you, huh?” asked Vincent. “I can’t say I’m not surprised, I mean you’re gorgeous.”

“Well thanks, but if that’s what you think then you obviously haven’t heard about my old rep back at CHS,” said Sunset.

“Nah, Rainbow clued me in,” he said, pointing over his shoulder. Sunset looked over it with an angry expression to see Rainbow, who quickly slipped back away. “But even after hearing that, I still think you’re amazing.” If Sunset’s face got any redder, it might make her look like a tomato.

“Uh… Thanks,” she said. Then she noticed the ship had just crossed through the canal and the two walked over to the map. “Listen, I think I need some me time, so… Twilight, are there any islands near here where I can get some alone time?”

“Yeah, right here,” said Twilight, pointing to one point in the bay. “St. Ivan Island, Bulgarian owned, but as long as you stay in the shadows, you’ll be fine.”

“Cool,” said Sunset as she walked off. “See ya.” Vincent’s eyes couldn’t help but follow her as she made her way to the lifeboats and rowed to the island. Once she was there, she found a secluded place on the eastern beach to relax, but she didn’t know there were sea nymphs, better known as nereids, led by Peitho, one of Aphrodite’s handmaidens, swarming the area near her, as well as the other girls and Vincent who had rowed ashore in another boat with Eros to spy on her. While there, Sunset kept admiring the flower Vincent had given her, but then she remembered her last romance with Flash. And how well that went.

“Ugh, what’s wrong with you, Sunset?” she asked herself. “Honestly, you’d think a girl would learn the first time around.” Then she left the flower and decided to sing out her frustrations, getting the nereids interested.

**Sonic Prime: See where I’m going with this?**

**(Play “I Won’t Say (I’m In Love) – Disney’s Hercules [which is actually completely inaccurate to the myth])**

The nereids kept trying to get the flower back to her, and get her to admit her feelings, but she brushed them off at every turn.

 _Sunset: If there’s a prize for rotten judgment_  
I guess I’ve already won that  
No man is worth the aggravation  
That’s ancient history - been there, done that!

 _Nereids: Who’d’ya think you’re kiddin’?_  
He’s the Earth and heaven to ya  
Try to keep it hidden?  
Honey, we can see right through you (Sunset: Oh no…!)  
Girl, you can’t conceal it,  
We know how ya feel and who ye’re thiiiinkin’ of…

_Sunset: Oh… No chance, no way  
I won’t say it, no-no_

_Nereids: You swoon, you sigh,  
Why deny it? Uh-oh…_

_Sunset: It’s too cliché,  
I won’t say I’m in love… (Nereids: Shoo-do, shoo-do. Ooo-ooo-ooo…)_

The others looked around each other, thinking Eros shot her too, but he shrugged as they saw her look in the old locket that Flash had given her while they were dating.

 _Sunset: I thought my heart had learned its lesson_  
It feels so good when you start out  
My head is screaming “Get a grip, girl…  
Unless you’re dyin’ to…

_Sunset and Nereids: …cry your heart out!”_

_(Sunset: Oh…!)_

_Nereids: You keep on denyin’_  
Who you are and how you’re feelin’  
Baby, we’re not buyin’  
Hon, we saw ya hit the ceilin’ (Sunset: Oh no…!)  
Face it like a grown-up  
When you gonna own up  
That ya got, got, got it bad…!

Finally, Sunset tried jumping across a small brook but ended up tripping right into the arms of a ruined statue that somehow seemed to resemble Vincent. She smirked a bit but caught it.

_Sunset: Oh…! No chance, no way,  
I won’t say it, no-no._

_Nereids: Give up or give in_

_Peitho: Check the grin, you’re in love!_

_Sunset: This scene won’t play_  
I won’t say I’m in love…!  
(Nereids: You’re doin’ flips!  
Read our lips; You’re in love! Shoo-do…)

 _Sunset: You’re way off-base,_  
I won’t say it! (Nereids: She won’t say it, no!)  
Get off my case!  
I won’t say it…

_Nereids: Girl, don’t be proud!  
It’s okay, you’re in love…_

Finally, Peitho managed to slip the flower back to Sunset, and she finally gave in.

 _Sunset: Oh-oh-aoh-aoh, at least out loud…_  
I won’t say I’m in…  
Love… (Nereids: Shoo-do, shoo-do, shoo-do, shoo-do-)

_Nereids: Sha-la-la-la-la-la, ah…_

Eros snickered at the whole scene. “Leave it to Mother to have her handmaiden convince someone of something like this,” he said to the others.

“Of course,” she said, suddenly behind him. “She and I have been in this gig a lot longer than you, son.” Eros jumped and gave a loud fearful squeak at his mother’s sudden appearance, making Sunset gasp in concern.

“Who’s there?” she asked. Spike quickly realized what had happened here.

“Nice work, Eros,” he growled sarcastically. “Now she knows we’re here.”

“No, she knows _someone_ is here,” said Aphrodite.

“What are you getting at?” asked Vincent as Sunset closed in.

“Simple,” said Aphrodite, positioning him. “You stay here, look handsome and listen to whatever Eros tells you mentally.”

“And the rest of us?” asked Twilight. Aphrodite just snapped her fingers and they instantly disappeared in a cloud of pink smoke, which manifested in the grove Vincent was left in as a mass of cherry blossoms, even some spreading from where they had left the boat. Vincent looked and saw a similar cloud appear back on the ship and groaned.

“I hate you, Aphrodite,” he said.

“How do you think I feel?” Eros asked on a strange psychic link as he disappeared into the forest. “She’s my mother.” Then Sunset happened upon the grove and was surprised to see him.

“Vincent?” she asked, nervously. Vincent looked and gave a nervous smile.

“Oh… Hey Sunset,” he said.

“What are you doing here?” she asked. Eros quickly started thinking lines to Vincent, which he quickly said.

“Oh well, I just uh, didn’t want you to get lonely out here,” he said. “But when I got here, I swear I heard an angel singing.” Sunset blushed.

“Oh, you uh… you heard that?” she asked.

“Not just hear,” said Vincent. “I saw you. And I have to say, you were gorgeous.” Sunset blushed even deeper and smiled.

“Well thanks, I mean it helps that I’m in a band with the others, and I have to say, my showerhead was actually very impressed with me even before that,” she joked and the two laughed.

“Yeah, I can imagine,” said Vincent. “But seriously, Sunset, I don’t think I’ve ever known a more beautiful woman than you.” Sunset just rolled her eyes and wrapped her arms around his neck.

“Oh, just shut up and kiss me, you idiot,” she said, and closed her eyes. Vincent didn’t need anymore commands as he quickly leaned into her and their lips connected, leaving them to make out for about a minute. While they were doing that, Eros broke the mental link, sprouted large feathered wings, turned himself invisible and flew back to the ship before his wings vanished.

“We’re done,” he said.

“So they’ll be back soon?” asked Psyche, who had just been informed of the matter.

“Well, unless my eyes are failing me, I’d say they’re on their way back now,” said Eros, watching the longboat row back to the ship. The girls pulled it up and allowed the two lovebirds on board to jump to the ship, still both burning red, and Sunset with the flower behind her ear. Zeus figured it all out from context and chuckled.

“Well Poseidon, are we ready to go?” he asked.

“Indeed, Brother,” said the earth-shaker. “We’re oriented correctly, just need a bit more wind.” Then a loud wind echoed around the ship before it manifested a young man with who looked almost like Heracles; blue eyes and same hair orientation, but his hair was black, and his toga was dark gray.

“You rang?” he asked with a more Western accent than the others.

“Ah! Zephyrus!” said Poseidon. “Nice to see you. Please, introduce yourself.”

“Gladly, Poseidon,” he said, kneeling before the girls. “Ladies, I am Zephyrus the Western Wind.” Pinkie giggled a bit. “What?”

“We’re going east, silly, not west,” she said.

“No-no-no,” said Zephyrus. “I mean I blow _from_ the west, not _toward_ it. So if you need a boost to the east, then I’d suggest you brace yourselves, cause this is gonna be fun.”

“Try not to make it too fun, Zephyrus,” said Zeus. “We’re just headed to Poli, not Beijing.”

“Well, I can get you there,” said Zephyrus as he flew away on his own wind. “Can’t say it won’t be rough.” Then he took a deep breath that seemed to make his chest puff out like an abnormally sized balloon.

“Yeah, we should probably hang onto something,” said Sunset and all the others quickly grabbed the supports and held on tight as Zephyrus blew long and hard into the sails, blasting the ship across the Black Sea with almost everyone cheering their lungs out, not the least of whom was Pinkie Pie, but the rest of the group screamed until the ship started slowing down just as it pulled onto an undeveloped part of the Georgian coast with another wind spirit waiting for them; this one looking like Zephyrus, but his beard was longer and his eyes were green.

“Hello, Eurus,” said Zeus as they all got off the ship. “I trust you know why we’re here?”

“ _Naturellement_ ,” he said in an Eastern dialect. “I happen to know where the Fleece resides.”

“Excellent,” said Zeus as the others all stumbled off the _Argo_. “Well, let’s not sit around here. Let’s go get the Fleece.”

“Not now, Brother,” said Hades, adjusting his suit and rings. “Some of the mortals are turning a bit green.”

“Hades is right,” said Dionysus as he and Hebe handed out small drinks of nectar to take the edge off. “I suggest we make camp here and carry out our search in the morning.”

“Won’t someone find us?” asked Sunset, slurring her words in pain. Heracles scoffed.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said. “This is the same place the first _Argo_ made landfall all those years ago, and barely anyone back then managed to find it. What chance do these modern mortals have?”

“Perhaps,” said Ares, donning his helmet. “Still, I vote we stand watch.”

“Oh, no need for that,” said a voice. Everyone looked up and saw an aged-seeming woman with pale skin, silver eyes and white hair in a white toga floated down from the moon.

“Ah, Lunar Titan Selene,” said Zeus. “Of course. Can you and Helios keep watch over us as we sleep?”

“Certainly, Zeus,” said Selene. “Nothing will escape us.” Then she floated back up to the moon.

“Well, you heard her, everyone,” said Sunset. “She’ll keep watch, so let’s set up camp on the boat.” And so they did, all boarding the ship and going to sleep the second they all got into bed.


	11. Wranglin'

The next morning, the group started on their way to the Golden Fleece, following Eurus the East Wind out to a barren desert area to find a stone with writing on it written in Ancient Greek.

“What’s it say?” asked Applejack, trying to read it. Zeus leaned in and looked at it, instantly understanding what it said.

“It says ‘Those who seek the Golden Fleece must face the Bull’.” he translated.

“Ah, of course,” said Hephaestus, hefting his hammer. “The Colchis Bull; by far my best invention. A bull nearly twice as large as Artemis’ Caledonian Boar, built from the best bronze with rubies for eyes, and breath nearly as hot as my own forges in Mount Etna.”

“And if we want the Fleece, we have to destroy it?” asked Rarity. “Oh, well this is wonderful.”

“Not destroy,” said Zeus. “Just tame it and it will stand down.”

“But then we’ve got the never-sleeping dragon to worry about,” said Sunset. “And that’s not gonna be a picnic.”

“Sure it will,” said Apollo, pulling out his lyre. “Haven’t you heard that music calms the savage beast?”

“And if that fails, um, I’m pretty sure I can talk it down,” said Fluttershy.

“Well, either way, let’s just get that Fleece and take down the Sirens permanently,” said Twilight as they walked past the stone. But then the earth started shaking and a loud lowing was heard.

“Tell me that’s not what I think it is, cousin,” said Artemis, readying an arrow.

“I could, but I’d be lying,” said Hephaestus. And then over the hill, a large bronze bull just like Hephaestus’ description charged over the hill. One look at it and a spark lit in Applejack’s eye.

**(Play “Cowboy to the Core” – PBR All Stars – Buck and Roll!)**

“Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho!” she chuckled, dropping her weapons and helmet in favor of her Stetson and Western-style spurs she strapped to her boots. “This is gonna be fun!” Quickly, she pulled out the chain lasso from the Labyrinth and charged the bull, which charged back at her. Quickly, she used her strength-boosted legs to jump over the beast and loop the lasso around its neck before she pulled herself down onto its back, making it start bucking like a bull at a rodeo.

“YEE-HAW! Get along, little doggie!” she yelled, hanging on tight as possible. “Hey, someone pass me a whip er somethin’!” Artemis liked where this was going and threw a whip to her which she caught and started whipping the beast with. “Hyah! Hyah! Cmon now, boy! Calm down, cmon! Cmon!” The bull wouldn’t calm down as it just kept bucking and trying to shake her off. The others cheered at her as she didn’t even flinch at the beast’s power, even when it reared up on its hind legs and shot a blazing torrent of fire out of its mouth. Finally, it seemed to be calming down, but not by much.

“Hey Herc! Get over here and help me finish this thing off!” yelled Applejack. Heracles smirked, his eyes burning as he draped his lion-hide cloak over his arm as a faux shield and ran in, blocking the bull’s fire-breath before delivering a strong punch to the beast’s chest, making it collapse on the ground in pain as the two jumped down and bro-fisted, followed by a strong chest-bump.

**(Cut it)**

“Whoo!” yelled Applejack as the two walked back over. “Best! Rodeo!! Ever!!! Please tell me someone got that on video!”

“I wish!” said Rainbow as she high-fived her. “That was awesome!”

“Agreed,” said Heracles. “I haven’t had that much fun since I wrestled Cerberus for my last Labor.”

“Well, save your strength, son,” said Zeus. “We still have to deal with the dragon.” Then it struck Heracles like an arrow between the eyes.

“Wait,” he said. “No, we don’t.”

“What?” asked Rainbow. Twilight groaned and facepalmed.

“Of course,” she said. “The Golden Fleece isn’t _here_. It’s in Iolcus. Back in Greece.”

“You mean we’ve been on a wild goose chase this whole time?” asked Sunset.

“So it would seem,” said Vincent. “But wait. Poseidon, you said you washed them all the way to Australia, right?”

“Yes, but by now, I’d wager they’ve made it to Egypt,” said Poseidon. “Why?”

“Because if that’s true, then they haven’t figured out that the map is wrong,” said Vincent.

“Don’t bet on it, Van Colt,” said a familiar voice. They all looked and saw the Sirens behind them, with intact pendants and Adagio wearing the Golden Fleece as a headdress.

“Oh no!” said Twilight.

“Oh yes,” said Adagio. “And with this Fleece’s power, we can finally destroy you all and have our glorious revenge!”

“You’ll have to go through us first,” said Ares as he, Athena and Heracles lined up, weapons ready. Adagio smirked.

“I have a sinking feeling they’re going to try and go through us,” said Athena.

“I’m afraid that feeling is correct,” said Adagio. “And thus, with the power of the Fleece, I shall finally-”

“Okay, hang on! Wait! Pause really quick,” said Sunset, walking in front of them. “It’s me and my friends you want the most revenge on, Adagio. Leave the gods out of it.”

“Very well then,” said Adagio. “I suppose I’ll just kill you here and now.”

“No ya don’t,” said Applejack, ax ready. “I call for a challenge. We both want the Fleece, so we fight for it. Gladiator style.”

“A battle for the Fleece?” asked Ares. “I like it!”

“I say we go for it,” said Sonata. “It’ll make taking them down that much sweeter.”

“Agreed,” said Aria.

“Very well,” said Adagio. “We’ll fight for the Fleece. What are the stakes?”

“Simple,” said Sunset, continuing what Applejack said. “Three-person teams. Last team standing wins the Fleece. Losers are banished to eternal punishment in the Underworld.” The others gasped at Sunset’s conviction.

“Sunset, are you sure about that?” asked Vincent. “If we lose, we’re doomed.”

“Which won’t be a problem, because we’re not going to lose,” said Sunset. “Because I have one more rule: No magic.” The Sirens seemed to be terrified at that prospect, but the rest of the team smirked.

“Smart move, Sunset,” said Applejack. “Well, you heard the girl; keep those traps o’ yers shut, or you’re disqualified.”

“Well, I don’t know,” said Adagio slyly, but her tone changed after she noticed that Hermes had snagged the Fleece away from her.

“Fight or the Fleece belongs to us,” said Sunset. “That’s our final offer. Going once, going twice…”

“Okay fine, you’ve got a deal!” said Adagio, shaking her hand.

“Excellent,” said Hades. “Then what better place to do this battle than on the field upon which we Olympians defeated our Titan family in Tartarus?”

“Good idea, Hades,” said Zeus. “Let us be off.” And thus, Hades led the whole group back to the _Argo_ and they sailed back to Greece, to the River Styx.


	12. The Underworld

Soon enough, the ship pulled in at a hidden dock near what looked like a blocked-off cave with more Greek writing on the large stone at the opening. Ares and Heracles escorted the Sirens to the large boulder where Hades walked up to it.

“‘Woe to all depraved souls’,” he read the runes and the boulder rolled away to reveal a small tunnel with a river off to one side with an old ruined ship resembling a Mississippi riverboat and at the helm stood a pale man with a long white beard and empty gray eyes in a ruined suit with a paddle nearby.

“Ah. Lord Hades. Lady Persephone. Welcome home,” he said, taking off his hat and bowing to Hades and his bride as he and the others boarded.

“Spare me the formalities, Charon,” said the lord of the dead. “Just take us down to the pits. We have a wager to settle.”

“As you wish, your highness,” said Charon as he started the boat down the river. “I trust Lord Thanatos will wish to have words with you.”

“Indeed, Charon,” said a dark voice. The girls squeaked a bit as from behind them came a dark cloaked figure with a large scythe in his hands and shackles draped over his shoulders. “We have much to discuss, Master.”

“Very well, Thanatos,” said Hades. “What do you want?”

“The number of those who’ve fallen on the field of battle has dramatically increased,” said Thanatos. “If this war in the Middle East doesn’t stop soon, we may run out of room.”

“Well, you heard him Ares,” said Hades as the two looked at the God of War.

“Hey, I was always good at _starting_ wars, I never said anything about knowing how to _end_ them,” he said.

“Still,” said Hades. While the boat was going along, Applejack watched out the sides of the ship to see the desolation of the Underworld and grew curious.

“Hey Persephone, can, uh…” she said. “Can I talk to you for a sec?”

“Of course,” said the goddess as the two walked away. “Two minutes, my dear.”

“Very well, my lovely,” said Hades. Once away from him, Applejack leaned against a support.

“So do you actually like being Queen of the dead or…?” she asked.

“Honestly?” asked Persephone. “I really do. I mean it’s no mortal realm, but it’s still actually kinda pretty.”

“So you and Hades aren’t a kinda bad thing?” asked Applejack.

“Actually no,” she said. “All those myths you read are actually wrong. He didn’t abduct me, I just got curious and wanted to pay the place a visit, we got married, et cetera, et cetera, Natural order.”

“So you guys are…?” asked Applejack.

“Unbelievable,” said Persephone. “Arguments are few, short and far-between, great entertainment, ridiculous food, and don’t tell him I told you this, but Hades is just as ruthless in bed as he is in the throne room.” Applejack gave a chuckle and smirked.

“Oh yeah?” she asked.

“Like you would not believe,” said Persephone as the boat started floating toward a large coliseum in the flaming wasteland of Tartarus, swarming with souls clasping drachma and tickets.

“What is going on here?” asked Hades.

“Well, while we were on our way here, I may or may not have had Iris fly ahead and spread word of the wager,” said Hera, adjusting her diadem as Iris flew down nearby. Hades facepalmed and adjusted his tie aggressively, giving a low growl.

“Only you would do this, Hera,” he said. “Ah, whatever. Thanatos, prepare soul shackles for those who lose the wager.”

“Yes, master,” said the death god and he flew off.

“Soul shackles?” asked Sunset.

“Special restraints which forcibly remove the souls of mortals from their bodies so that Thanatos can drag them to their afterlife,” said Hades.

“Y’know, I was just rethinking our wager on our way down, and-” began Sunset.

“Let me guess, you want to surrender?” asked Adagio. Sunset chuckled.

“Anything but,” she said. “I was just thinking; Why not make it a little more interesting?” Hades raised an eyebrow at this.

“I am intrigued,” he said, stroking his beard. “Elaborate.”

“Well, there are all sorts of giant monsters down here, right?” asked Sunset.

“Oh… I see where you’re going with this,” said Rainbow. “And I like it!”

“I don’t get it,” said Sonata.

“Surprising absolutely no one,” said Aria.

“Attention, my subjects!” called Hades, attracting the attention of all the lost souls nearby. “There has been a slight change in tonight’s ‘program’. Instead of a three-on-three gladiatorial battle, it will be a full-on battle royale against whatever great beings wish to fight! Who dares?” Then two giant beings walked forward, each with fifty faces and one hundred arms. “Ah. The Hecatonchires! Excellent! Now remember, you will do battle until either group falls. Which reminds me; this shall also be a full group battle. Girls, you may group up on your opponents however much you like, but the Sirens are limited to just the three of them. Understood?”

“Alright, you’re on,” said Adagio. “But this was a pretty long trip and I’m sure we’re all tired. Can we start the contest tomorrow?”

“Well, I suppose that’s fair,” said Hades as Thanatos returned, shackles ready. “Thanatos, have my servants prepare quarters in the palace for our guests and cells in the Coliseum for our prisoners. They will do battle in the morning.”

“Yes, Lord Hades,” said the specter of death as he floated off.

“I hope the rest of you will join us for dinner, Brother,” said Hades patting Zeus on the shoulder. “For the Underworld, I have some of the best cooks in history.”

“I think we might just take you up on that, Hades,” said Zeus. “Poseidon, I trust Triton can take care of the _Argo_?”

“Without question,” said the earth-shaker.

“Very well,” said Hades as undead guards took the Sirens by the arms and pulled them away to their prison. Then Hades pointed down a rapidly-forming pathway to a large black-stone castle. “Shall we?”

“Let’s,” said Vincent, taking Sunset by the arm and leading her along the path, along with the others. Once there, they discovered Hades was right; his cooks were incredible, so much so that when the girls felt kind of sleepy and/or sick, they thought he had poisoned them, but a quick drink of nectar and it was gone, and Twilight saw an opportunity for a joke.

“So, Lord Hades, is it true that Kerberus actually means ‘spotted’?” she asked.

“Yes, it does,” said Hades, surprised when it prompted Rainbow, who was actually a little drunk, to start laughing. “What?”

“S-Sorry, sorry,” she said. “It’s just- You named your gigantic three-headed hellhound ‘Spot’?!” That prompted the others to laugh as well, even Zeus and Poseidon.

“Our brother, eh Poseidon?” asked the Thunderer.

“Indeed Zeus,” guffawed the earth-shaker. Finally, they were all too drunk and full to think of anything but sleep, so they left thus, but Rarity stumbled a bit and fell onto the ground, where Thanatos helped her up, accidentally giving her a look at his face under the hood and revealing that he was actually quite handsome with a sharp narrow face with short white hair and blood red eyes.

“My heavens, Lord Thanatos,” she said, blushing a bit. “You are quite easy on the eyes.” The god chuckled a bit and pulled off his hood.

“What were you expecting?” he asked in a far kinder voice than before. “A walking skeleton?”

“Honestly, I was,” she replied as he helped her along. “Not to offend or anything.”

“Of course not,” said Thanatos, stopping in front of a door. “Well, here’s your quarters. I suggest you get some rest. Take it from someone who’s seen it many times over; mortals who drink the master’s nectar are hit with a hangover like one of the Hecatonchires threw a boulder at them.”

“Thank you for the advice,” said Rarity, entering her chamber. “Good night.” And thus she crawled into bed and fell swiftly asleep. What they didn’t know was that when they woke up, they would be treated to the worst surprise of their lives.


	13. The Counter-Action

The next morning, the girls were ready for their fight with the Sirens and had just gotten some last-minute training from Heracles. Once they were done, Hades and Persephone walked over and smirked at them.

“Excellent work, my nephew,” said Hades. “I’d say they’re ready to face the Underworld’s best and worst on the field of battle and glory.”

“As long as we win the Fleece, I’d say we’re happy,” said Rainbow.

“Well then, let’s get to the stadium,” said Persephone, but just then Thanatos burst into the main hall.

“My lord!” he yelled and stumbled to Hades’ feet. “My lord, there has been an enormous breach of security!”

“What do you mean?” asked Hades. “What’s happened?”

“The Sirens have escaped,” said Thanatos.

“And they stole the Fleece,” said Iris who had just flown in.

“What?” asked Zeus. “How could they have done so?”

“Well, they _did_ have their pendants back,” said Rainbow. “Shot in the dark; maybe they charmed the guards?”

“Impossible,” said Hades. “None of my men can be charmed like that.” Then Twilight realized something.

“Oh no,” she said.

“What?” asked Vincent.

“Pop quiz: What powerful being is locked in a coffin down here?” she asked grimly. The eyes of everyone in the room instantly went to the size of pinheads in fear.

“Oh no, please tell me they’re not seriously considering…!” said Zeus. “Hades! Gather your best and send them now!”

“About five steps ahead of you, little brother!” said Hades as he ran out of his palace. Then he gave a loud whistle. “Cerberus! Rally the guards and surround the resting place of… him.”

“I don’t get it, who are you talking about?” asked Rainbow.

“Our father,” said Poseidon. “The Titan Kronos. We usurped and vivisected him millennia ago, trapping him in a coffin in the deepest pits of Tartarus. Anyone who wanted to even try to get to it would have to pass through hell itself. And then Cleveland.”

“Ew,” said the girls.

“Wait, what would want with an old box o’ bits?” asked Pinkie as they all left for the pit.

“Lemme answer that question with a question;” said Apollo. “What are the main functions of the Fleece?”

“Grant your greatest desire and return anything to its- okay, now I can see why they want it,” said Pinkie.

“Well, it explains why they stole the Fleece,” said Vincent. “But it doesn’t explain why they want to resurrect Kronos. He hates mortals.”

“Wait a minute,” said Hera, stopping and facepalming. “Of course.”

“What?” asked Rarity.

“They think that now that their pendants are back in one piece, they can enthrall Kronos to be their slave,” said Hera.

“But that’s suicide,” said Twilight. “Nothing can control a Titan like Kronos.”

“Odds are they don’t care about any of that as long as they conquer the world,” said Zeus.

“Oh come on, guys,” said Rainbow. “They’re crazy, but they’re not-” But she paused. “On second thought, no you’re right. They _are_ that crazy.”

“Exactly,” said Twilight. “Now let’s go save the world again.” Quickly, the whole Olympian Pantheon and the girls ran down to the deepest pits of Tartarus and hid behind a rather large rock to find the Sirens there with the Fleece.

“Oh nuts,” said Applejack. “We’re too late.” Then Vincent noticed something.

“Hey, wait a minute, where’s Sunset?” he asked. Everyone looked and saw he was right; Sunset wasn’t even there until she walked up wearing a new jacket; this one was a red-and-gold high school letter jacket with an attached hood, and on the back was the Greek letter Omega. And she was smirking.

“What are you so happy about, Sunset?” asked Twilight. “The Sirens are about to bring back Kronos and- you have some sort of awesome plan, don’t you?” Sunset’s smile broadened.

“Just watch the hilarity,” she said as they all directed their attention to the Sirens as Adagio placed the Fleece on Kronos’ coffin and back away to pray for freedom from his retribution. But nothing happened. Sunset saw this as her cue and walked out and gave a taunting whistle.

“Oh, girls…!” she said. Adagio looked up and was surprised.

“Wait what?” she asked. “How are you not being crushed in the grip of a Titan now?”

“Simple,” said Sunset, pulling the Fleece off the coffin and ripping the skull off. “First off; this isn’t the real Fleece.” Then she pulled out a lighter and burned the wool. “That was just the lining for a wool jacket I died gold.”

“But what about the skull?” asked Sonata.

“What, this?” asked Sunset, picking it up. “It’s just a regular ram skull I painted gold.” Then she dropped the skull and it shattered at her feet.

“But- But if that wasn’t the real Fleece, then where is it?” asked Adagio. Sunset smiled.

“Ever read that series ‘Percy Jackson and the Olympians’?” she asked. Adagio suddenly realized what she was talking about and her eyes narrowed in an unamused fashion.

“Oh, that is such a cop-out,” she said. The others were confused, but then Sunset just smirked again as she pulled up the hood of the jacket.

“Maybe, but it’s a cop-out that works,” she said and snapped her fingers and her jacket suddenly turned into the real Golden Fleece.

“Whoa! Sunset, how did you get the Fleece?” asked Rainbow as they all ran out.

“Better question; why?” asked Zeus.

“I figured this was their plan, and that they’d get out of the dungeons, which no offense Hades, but you seriously need to beef up security around them,” said Sunset.

“I accept that,” said the god of the dead.

“So I snagged the Fleece, and had Hermes give it that second form and make the fake,” said Sunset.

“Wait,” said Iris, looking at Hermes. “You were in on this?”

“Well, duh,” said Hermes. “I am God of Wit and all those who live by theirs, aren’t I?”

“Fair enough, but still,” said Iris.

“I’d say this deserves congratulations,” said Athena. “Nice to see you put my lessons of strategy to heart, Sunset.”

“Well, as long as we still have the Sirens for the day, I say we go get that battle over with,” said Persephone.

“Actually, my lady, if I may be so bold, I believe trying to resurrect Kronos like that is more than grounds for disqualification,” said Thanatos. “Would you not agree, Master?”

“Normally, I would Thanatos, but you know I always keep my promises of entertainment for my subjects,” said Hades. “But just to be safe, remove their souls and take them to the stadium like that. Heracles, I trust you can carry their bodies until we get there?”

“Certainly,” said the young god happily. Quickly, Thanatos’ soul-shackles shot to the Sirens’ wrists and then shot back, pulling the Sirens’ souls out with them, which everyone could see.

“Okay, that is just disturbing,” said Rainbow as she watched them float there.

“Yeah well, imagine how we feel,” said Aria.

“Whatever,” said Heracles as he picked up the Sirens’ empty bodies. “Now then… Let us prepare for battle!” And thus, they all returned up to the stadium to fight.


End file.
